Total Sibling Rivalry
by Kelsica2
Summary: 12 campers and their siblings compete for half a million dollars in TSR! Day 21: Okay,this is just weird. You're gonna have to read to find out what happens in this episode of TOTAL SIBLING RIVALRY!
1. Day 1, Part 1: The Interns Arrive

Here come the interns! That's right, I've made my decision on the four interns who are going to be in _Total Sibling Rivalry._

Holly, created by **BloodyAphrodite**

Mia, created by **Snowstarwriter**

Marina, created by **eeniemeeny**

And Tamyra, created by **Techgirl10**

I'll eventually send you guys a note, asking you a few extra questions to make sure I keep your character… you know… in character.

The interns belong to their respective owners.

Chris McClain and TDI belong to Teletoon and Fresh TV.

Total Sibling Rivalry belongs to me! :D

* * *

Walking down the Dock of Shame for the first time in a while, Chris McClain smiled his trademark smile. After almost a year of hosting lame award shows and looking at himself in the mirror, the sadist was extremely glad to be back at Camp Wawanakwa. Not only was he going to get to torture 12 of last season's campers, he was going to do it to 16 of their siblings, as well! And best of all, there were going to be 4 new interns. They were all chicks.

And they were all hot.

And they were all at or over the legal age so he could date one of them without getting sued.

What could be better?

That day was the day the new interns were supposed to show up, but none of it was going to be on camera. Nobody wants to watch them.

Chris pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. He had written down all of the intern's information so he wouldn't slip up and call one of them by the wrong name. They probably wouldn't want to go out with him if he did

He continued to look over the list until he heard a loud bullhorn. Chris looked up at the sudden noise and grinned again when he saw an upcoming yacht. Wadding the paper up and tossing it over his shoulder, he walked closer to the end of the dock, squinting to see who was on the oversized boat.

A girl was leaning on the edge of the railing, holding a book in one hand, twirling a red-highlighted strand of her hair in the other. Her rest of her brown hair was flowing in the wind, but her emo bangs somehow remained in place over her left eye. The yacht stopped on a dime, making her jerk slightly, but she was still able to keep her balance. She noticed that she was finally at the island, grabbed a duffel bag, and jumped off the railing right next to Chris. The yacht pulled away with another loud blow of the horn.

Once Chris got a closer look at the cover of the new intern's book, he knew who she was immediately. "Ah, you must be Holly, the Twilight fan."

Holding up the book, revealing that it was a copy of _Breaking Dawn,_ she proudly said, "Heck yeah!" She tucked the book into a pocket in her bag and looked back up at her new boss. "So what do I do first?"

"For now, just head toward our secret campground. The path's right over there." He pointed toward a path almost hidden by the shadow of a tall oak tree. "You can wait in the lounge until the others get here."

Smoothing out a wrinkle on her 'Team Edward' shirt, she grinned and said, "Lounge? I like this internship already!" Holly started walking toward the path and Chris looked back at her, smiling. _It said in her bio that one of her phobias would be kissing me. I like a challenge… _

Soon after, another ship started coming toward the shore.

This time, there was a girl wearing a black halter dress, diamond earrings flopping in the breeze. The wind wasn't getting her brown hair in her face, thanks to her black hair band, but Chris kinda wished that it was. Her green eyes looked like slits, glaring at him angrily. The boat stopped at the dock and her black high heel boots clicked on the wooden planks as she stepped off the yacht.

Chris nervously laughed and said, "Hey there, Mia. I'm guessing you've been getting glaring lessons from your step-sister, huh?"

Rolling her eyes, she snappily replied, "Don't you even **dare** mention that girl to me right now. The only reason I applied for this stupid internship was so I could get her back to the way she was before she came to this crappy island."

Chris was honestly confused by that statement. "What do you mean? Didn't Heather's hair grow back?"

"Of course it did, moron. I meant that she started-"

"Whatever, I'll find out for myself when she gets here. Just follow that path over there and wait in the lounge for me and the other interns."

Pulling the luggage that was tossed down by the person driving the ship, she walked away and muttered, "There'd better be a masseuse here…"

In the next boat, there was a girl with curly hair looking at some fuzzy thing inside a plastic ball. She adjusted her navy blue square-framed glasses and looked up, smiling once she saw the island approaching.

Chris held out a helping hand, she gratefully took it with the hand not occupied by the ball, and he helped her step off the boat. "Thanks, Chris. I'm so happy to be here! I've always wanted to come to an island like this!"

Chris showed off his pearly whites once more and said, "Well, that's the first time I've ever heard that… Welcome to Total Drama Island, Marina." Looking down at the ball she was holding, he was finally able to see what the fuzzy thing was. "I see you brought your hamster."

Looking back down at the ball, she grinned and said, "Yeah, I just love animals. And kids. That's why I signed up for this internship. This show has both of those things!"

Shocked by her love for the two things he dislikes most, he replied, "Um… okay then. Just walk along that path and wait in the lounge. I'll be right back with the last intern."

Grabbing her bag and dropping the ball next to her feet, she and her furry companion started to wander toward the path, looking at their natural surroundings.

The horn blew again and the final boat approached the host. The last intern waved at Chris, part of her red hair blowing in her face. When the yacht finally arrived, she grabbed her personal items, hopped off and shook Chris' hand. "Hi," she angelically said, "It's great to be here."

Once again smiling, Chris said, "Great to have you here, Tamyra. It said in your résumé that you've gone scuba-diving, been sky-diving, and even wrestled a shark! You'll make a great addition to our intern team!"

"Thanks a lot, Chris!" She hoisted the bag of her strap back on her shoulder and grinned at him. Chris motioned toward the path the other three interns had walked on, and the two walked together toward it. The host thought about all of the girls that he had met that day.

_They're all so hot… It's gonna be hard choosing which one will be lucky enough to be my beau. Oh well. I've got a whole summer and four girls. Something's gotta happen…_

* * *

Le gasp! :O What will happen when the contestants arrive? Will Chris score with one of the interns or get turned down by them all? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of _Total Sibling Rivalry!_


	2. Day 1, Part 2: We Put the S in TSR

Hey there! The campers and their siblings finally show up in this chapter, so wahootie. :D I've decided to forget the whole bio fic for their brothers and sisters. You can just figure out what they're like by meeting them for yourself… Only one intern's in this chapter, so sorry to all the others' creators…

And I just realized that I've been spelling Chris' last name wrong! D'oh! DX My old English teacher's last name was McClain, so I had just assumed that that was how it was spelled… Sorry. XP

All the TDI characters belong to Teletoon and Fresh TV.

Total Sibling Rivalry and all of the siblings belong to me. :D

Tamyra belongs to Techgirl10

Captain Crust belongs to pinkluver93. X3

* * *

Inspecting the perfectness of his hair in the reflective camera lens, Chris McClean gave a satisfied little sigh. The season's new victims- I mean 'contestants' were going to arrive any minute. Ever since he was a little boy, Chris had enjoyed the misery of others. And he had also enjoyed blowing stuff up. If you don't believe me, you can ask the ten Captain Crust action figures he used to have when he was four. But hosting Total Drama Island, or should I say Total Sibling Rivalry now, was so much better. Because he got to do both of those things, but with real people!

Still, Chris had wondered how he was ever going to top last season. It had been so awesome, it was practically unbeatable! And, to save some money in the budget, he was forced to hire somebody new to come up with challenges. And that somebody sucked.

Oh well. He could always repeat some of his favorite challenges from last year.

One of the camera men had snapped Chris out of his slight trance by saying, "We're rolling in thirty seconds."

Going into a state of panic, Chris smoothed the wrinkles out of his shirt, quickly ran a hand through his hair and put on his world-famous smile.

"In five, four, three, two, one…"

"Hellooooooooo, Canada!" Chris greeted, "Chris McClean here! As you can see, I'm back at crappy old Camp Wawanakwa. Know why? 'Cause it's time for Season Two of Total Drama Island: Total Sibling Rivalry!" Chris walked toward the campfire pit, and the camera men followed. "Here's the deal: 12 of your favorite campers from last season are coming back, along with 16 of their brothers and sisters." Leaning against his 'podium', he continued, "Together, they'll endure the same disasters they did last season, but even worse! Ha ha, awesome, right? But if they thought last season's prize was big, just imagine them fighting for **$500, 000**!" He paused and grinned at the camera for a second, and continued, "The night after every challenge, one of these siblings will be voted off, walk the Dock of Shame, and take a ride home on the Boat of Losers. But, there's a twist. The two campers who make it to the Final Two will have their siblings come back here to help them compete for the grand prize! Get ready for new challenges, friendships, enemies, romances, and alliances on **Total Sibling Rivalry**!"

The camera was shut off and the red headed intern walked toward Chris with a glass of water. "Good job, Chris."

Accepting the glass, he said, "Thanks, Tamyra. I felt good about that shoot." He tipped his head back, drank the water like a shot of liquor and handed her the glass again.

Slightly freaked out by the manner in which he drank that, Tamyra quickly walked (more like ran) back to the secret production camp, not saying another word.

Looking at her as she ran away, Chris grinned. _I think she's the hottest one… I dunno. There's still plenty of time to think about that, Chris. You've got work to do._

The camera crew was already back at the dock, but just as Chris got back and they started rolling again, he heard a familiar horn. Looking out into the horizon, he saw a yacht appearing. The first contestants were arriving.

Let the fun begin.

As the boat got closer, he was able to make out a rather big guy near the very front of the boat, making it tip forward slightly.

Owen.

With him, there was a girl who didn't look much younger than him. She was standing next to her brother, waving at Chris like crazy. Her dark brown eyes were filled with joy and her strawberry blonde ponytail was rippling in the wind. Even Chris couldn't imagine smiling as largely as she was.

When the yacht approached the dock, the duo jumped off, carrying their stuff with them. The girl immediately dropped her luggage, ran over to Chris and gave him a big hug.

"OMG, it is so awesome to meet you!"

She was slightly cutting off the circulation to his lungs with her grip, but he still choked out, "G-great to have you here, Candace."

Owen ran up to them and engulfed them in a big bear hug, "Chris! What's up, dude? It's so awesome to be back!"

Once the chipper siblings released Chris, he was able to talk normally again. "Welcome back, Owen! How's last year's champion doin'?"

Letting out a chuckle, Owen said, "I'm awesome! Ever since I got back from the island, I've been the most popular guy at school!"

Candace giggled and added, "And I've been the most popular guy at school's sister!"

"Um… cool. You guys can go wait by the campfire pit for the others."

Both let out a simultaneous "Whooo!" as they grabbed their stuff and ran to where they were told.

Almost immediately after that, the next boat approached the dock. On it, was a girl wearing a blue hoodie and holding a surf board, so it was safe to assume that it was Bridgette. Next to her, there was a boy with sandy blonde hair, holding a blue and white skateboard. The two jumped onto the dock and walked up to the host.

"Hey, Chris," Bridgette greeted.

Her brother walked up next to her and held a hand up to Chris. "What's up, host dude?"

Chris high-fived him and said, "You must be Keith, the skater dude."

Keith grinned and said, "Yeah, man!" Looking around, he raised an eyebrow and asked, "Now where are all of the hotties?"

Smacking him in the arm with her elbow, Bridgette scolded, "Keith, please! Can't you think about anything else but girls?" He opened his mouth, about ready to object, but Bridgette interrupted by saying, "OR your skateboard?!"

He closed his mouth, sheepishly looking down at his feet.

"You guys can wait with Owen and his sister by the campfire pit until the others show up."

"Sister?" Keith asked excitedly. "Alright!" He jumped on his board and skated away from Chris and his sister. Bridgette rolled her eyes, but grinned, silently following him.

Chris hadn't even noticed that the next boat had already arrived. On it was Cody and very hard core-looking girl. With her lip ring, ripped black dress, charcoal black hair, and menacing grimace, she made Duncan look like a wimp. She stepped off the boat, looking like she wanted to rip somebody's head off, and stormed past Chris without a word.

Cody walked up next to Chris and nervously laughed. "Sorry about that, Chris. Rikki's not really a people person. I'm still kinda questioning whether she's a person or not…"

"Codemiester!" The two knuckle-touched and Chris said, "I was a little surprised to find out that you have an older sister. Didn't your bio say you were an only child?"

Cody laughed nervously again and replied, "Yeah… there was kind of a reason for that… But it's cool! We came to win!"

"That's the spirit, Cody. Go join the others at the campfire pit and wait for the rest of the campers to arrive."

With that, Cody walked away, hoping that he'd be able to find a new fine lady to obsess over…

As the next boat approached, Chris was able to make out a familiar Jamaican-Canadian boy, trying to get something back from a muscular guy. The guy's long dreadlocks shook as he kept the thing away from his younger brother. When they finally reached the dock, the muscualr dreadlock guy threw the thing on the dock, revealing that it was poor Bunny, violently shaking in fear.

DJ hopped off the boat, scooping Bunny up in his arms. "That wasn't cool, Jamal! You scared him to death!"

Jamal threw his duffel bag onto the dock, almost hitting DJ, and joined his little brother. "Whatever. Don't be such a wimp, man."

"DJ, Jamal, welcome to Camp Wawanakwa!"

Jamal looked around and asked, "Is there a gym here?"

"Um… no."

He just shrugged and said, "No problem. I'll just lift some rocks or something." Jamal started walking and DJ followed, still holding Bunny and looking very annoyed with his jerk of a brother.

On the next approaching yacht, three girls were waiting to get off. Two of them were a bit big-boned, but the tallest one was skinny with very big… um… you-know-what's. She was applying more bright red lipstick on while looking into a small mirror. The one that looked about fourteen was looking at her, extremely annoyed. The second oldest one, which Chris was now able to tell was LeShawna, waved to Chris and yelled, "What's up, y'all? The Jones girls are in the house! "

The trio's yacht finally reached the dock, and the three sisters finally got off. Chris couldn't help but stare at the eldest's breasts, but he still managed to say, "Raven, LeShawna, and Jovie. It's awesome to have you all here."

The youngest one, assumed to be Jovie, said, "You bet it is! 'Bout time this show got some more sistas!"

Snapping himself out of his boobie trance, he looked up at the other two girls and said, "Well, you all can wait with the others over there." He pointed toward the campfire pit and the girls walked away. But the eldest, Raven, stopped, looked at Chris, and gave him a flirtatious wink. Chris grinned like a perv after she turned back around and thought to himself, _I'm pretty sure she's legal. Maybe she's the girl for me…_

He looked back at the dirty ocean when he noticed another yacht approaching. This time, it was Gwen and her brother. He was playing with a handheld video game while Gwen was sketching something. She looked up from her creation and frowned when she saw that the island was approaching.

They reached the island and jumped off the dock with their stuff. Chris grinned and greeted, "Last year's runner up: Gwen!" And looking at her brother, he added, "And you must be Zack. Welcome to the island!"

"Hey." Zack didn't bother looking up from the game he was still playing, but waved a little with his free hand.

Gwen was still frowning. "You're just lucky that Trent and my friends are all gonna be here, or I would have seriously damaged you for making me come back here." She walked past Chris, who was unaffected by her threat. Zack blindly followed her, waving goodbye to the sadist.

Coming up next, a girl with wild red hair waved wildly, along with two eight year old twin boys with matching red hair. When they reached the dock, they jumped off at the same time. The two boys stopped there, but Izzy sort of cart wheeled toward Chris, practically knocking him over. She sprung up, getting practically in the host's face. "Hi, Chris! Izzy's back! And these are my brothers, Herbie and Xavier!" She pointed at each brother, not like it mattered, since Chris would never be able to remember which one was which, anyway. "Man, it's been a rough year! Right after I left the island, I snuck into this concert, but got in big trouble 'cause I kept screaming at the top of my lungs how much I loved the performer. This guard was all like, 'Young lady, you shouldn't act in such a manner at an opera,' whatever that it! But I was able to escape with my ninja-"

"Please stop talking, Izzy." Chris wasn't able to take her rambling anymore. "Just take your brothers and go to the campfire pit."

"…Okay!" Getting on all fours, Izzy ran toward the campfire pit. He brothers repeated her actions, howling like crazy wolves.

_Man, her whole family's weird…_

On the next boat, a familiar-looking delinquent stood, grimacing at the approaching host. Next to him, there a girl that looked about thirteen years old. Her blonde and pink highlighted hair flowed in the breeze as she adjusted the pink sock just barely sticking out above her black combat boots. Next to her, a black-haired little girl's hands were gripping the railing, barely able to wait to get off. The older girl jumped off first, waiting as her younger sister got on Duncan's back so she could jump off with him. The trio walked toward Chris and stopped.

"Duncan, Selena and Zoey! You know, Duncan, I was shocked to hear that a guy like **you** had two little sisters…"

Selena, who was the closest to Chris, struck a menacing pose and said, "Yeah, he's got sisters!"

Little Zoey, still on Duncan's back, held up a tiny fist, and menacingly asked, "You got a problem with that?!"

Duncan, smirking at his sister's reactions, told Chris, "I've taught them well…"

Chris, who had been admittedly a little scared of the two little girls, said, "Yeah, um, just head toward the campfire pit and wait for the rest of the campers to arrive." Without another word, the three left.

The next boat had already arrived with Geoff, an older guy with shaggy brown hair, and a girl with short blonde hair who looked about fourteen years old. Geoff and the other guy were carrying a ton of luggage as they stepped off, but the girl just pulled a piece of lint off of her purple sweater dress as she bounced off.

"Geoff, Duke, Marilee! Welcome!"

Geoff, who was struggling under the weight of most of the luggage, said, "Thanks, Chris. Awesome to be back!"

Eyeing the two guys, Chris couldn't help but ask, "What's with all they luggage, guys?"

"Most of it is Marilee's," Geoff replied, jerking his head back toward Marilee, who was still empty-handed.

"Yeah," Duke finally spoke up, "She's too lazy to carry them herself!"

Glaring at her eldest brother, Marilee spat, "Well, you didn't need to bring those two coolers full of beer, you-"

"Shut up!" Duke hissed. He wasn't supposed to bring any alcoholic beverages with him on the island, since it would be breaking his contract, but he did anyway. Chris didn't give a crap, but he wasn't going to risk being disqualified.

"Whatever." She waved off her brother's harshness and continued, "Why do you complain so much? Geoff never complains! You should be more like him!"

Geoff smiled a little, though he was still pained under the weight of all of his sister's stuff. "Thanks, sis! I-"

"Shut up, Geoff."

"Okay." With that, they walked away, Marilee still not carrying anything.

Arriving next, the CIT herself and her 20 year old brother. He was reading a novel, but looked up, saw the island slowly approaching and snapped it shut. Courtney gingerly stepped off the yacht and greeted Chris, "Hi, Chris. I never thought I'd say this, but it's nice to be back here."

"Well, it's great to have you back, Courtney. And I'm guessing that this is Jackson," he said, pointing a finger toward her brother, who had walked up to them momentarily ago.

"Yes, I am," he said, shaking Chris' hand. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. McClean."

"Dude, Mr. McClean is my dad. Call me Chris!"

"…Right." The two started to follow the path the previous family had taken, leaving Chris alone once again.

But not too long after, he got a call on his cell. He picked it up, saying, "McClean. Talk to me… Oh, hey Boss! Yeah… Yep. Um, no, there are only two families left to arrive… Oh, one of them's gonna be late? Who? Oh… okay… okay… okay then. Thanks for telling me. Bye." He hung up and put his phone back in his pocket. Only one family left for now…

The final boat (at the moment) approached the campground. Standing in the front with his guitar case strapped to his back was Trent. It didn't seem like there was anybody else on the yacht, but when Trent stepped off after it came to a halt, he turned around, looking up at the railing. "C'mon, Grace, it's okay."

The head of a little girl with brown hair tied up in a little ponytail popped up, looking down at her big brother. She looked a little scared to come down.

Trent held out his arms, smiled at her reassuringly and coaxed, "I'll be right here to catch you. Don't worry."

She nervously smiled at him, crawled over the railing, and plunged down into his arms, giggling slightly. He grinned even bigger and set her down next to his feet.

Chris grinned at Trent. "Trent, welcome back! This must be Grace." He looked down at the small girl, who just grinned back at him.

"Great to be back, man. Is Gwen here yet?"

"Yep. She's waiting for you by the campfire pit with the others."

"Cool!" Looking back down at his little sister, he said, "C'mon, Grace. Let's go." He started walking and Grace followed behind him. But she stopped for a second, looked back at Chris, frowned and kicked him in the shin as hard as she could.

Doubling over in pain, the sadist grabbed his throbbing shin and yelled, "**Ow!** What was **that** for?!" _Man, for such a little girl, she has a powerful leg!_

Trent turned back around, asking, "What's wrong?"

"That little br-" Chris was about to rat her out, but then he took a second glance at her. She had a dark look in her eyes, like she'd do something horrific to him if he told on her. She held her pointer finger out and slid it across her neck, making a decapitation sound only auditable to her and Chris as she did. Chris had remembered her audition tape. All the stories of horrible things she had done to people without Trent knowing… he knew what that kid was capable of. She probably wasn't lying when she made that silent death threat. "Um… nothing. I'm fine." He got up, trying to avoid looking at the demonic girl.

Trent shrugged his shoulders and continued walking, Grace close behind him.

After the camera crew shut down and started toward the campfire pit, Chris stood for a minute, thinking about the old and new contestants. Mostly the new.

_And I though LAST season's campers were freaks…_

* * *

Well, there you have it! How will the new campers interact with each other? Why haven't Heather and her brother shown up yet? Will Rikki ever say anything? Will any of the other interns be in the next chapter? Is Duke gonna get drunk from drinking two coolers of beer? Will Grace kick any more people in the shin? Find out all this, and more, in the next chapter of **Total Sibling Rivalry**!


	3. Day 1, Part 3: Reunions Feel So Good

Rawr.

Sorry for such a late update. School + PMS + helping my cousin hook up his new Xbox 360 = BLEH. :P

No challenge yet. Just wanted to let the charries interact a little before I plied all that crap on them. The interns aren't in this chapter. Sorry. D:

And there are Confession Can confessions in this chapter, a first for me. :D

* * *

"Stuff in between these lines means that somebody's in the Confession Can," Kelsey explained.

* * *

This chapter's long. It was very fun to write, though. XD

I should probably mention everybody's age, just to avoid confusion. Grace is 3; Zoey is 4; Herbie and Xavier are 7; Zack and Selena are 13; Keith and Marilee are 14; Jovie and Candace are 15; Rikki is 18; Jamal is 19; Raven and Jackson are 20; and Duke is 19. Heather's brother will be 10, but he's not in this chapter, so nobody cares.

Not much else to say. You all know what belongs to whom. I don't wanna repeat myself.

Read, review, and enjoy!

* * *

After making it to the campfire pit, Owen and Candace dropped their stuff by Chris' podium and looked at their surroundings.

* * *

"WHOO!" Owen pumped a fist in the air, careful to avoid hitting the roof of the outhouse that the Confession Can was in. "It's so awesome to be back! I had a lot of fun at camp last year, and especially at the campfire pit. Fluffy, marshmallowey fun, that it!"

* * *

"Candace, look!" Owen grabbed his sister by her wrist and dragged her over to one of the stumps that the campers sat on during the campfire ceremonies. "This is the stump I always sat on!" The stump he pointed to was concaved, for obvious reasons. "Oh!" Dragging her back over to the spot they were at before, Owen pointed to a patch of grass, telling her, "And that's the very spot that I was standing on when Chris gave me my last marshmallow."

Candace grinned and exclaimed, "Wow, cool! Wouldn't it be awesome if we won?"

Laughing, Owen replied, "Totally!" Suddenly, he turned around, as if he had super hearing and knew that Bridgette and Keith were coming right behind them. "Bridgette! Bridgette's brother!" Owen ran toward the two, scooping them up in a bear hug.

Bridgette tried to hug back, but it was practically impossible, thanks to Owen's tight grip. "It's great to see you, too, Owen."

Keith didn't really attempt to hug back, but was still friendly and said (after Owen let them go), "Hey, dude. What's up?" Before he could give him an opportunity to answer, Keith noticed the strawberry blonde cutie standing behind Owen, looking at a butterfly floating above her head. "Who's she?" he asked with a grin.

Looking back, Owen said, "Oh, that's my sister." He tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around, facing the three. "Candace, this is Bridgette and her brother… um-"

Before Owen could ask him his name, Keith finished for him. "Keith. Keith Carlisle." He tried to brush some of the stray locks of hair out of his face, but it just bounced back into place.

Candace gave them a little wave and grinned. "Nice to meet you guys!"

"So," Keith gently pushed Owen and Bridgette out of the way and walked closer to Candace. The pushees looked at each other, shrugged, and walked away from the two so that they could catch up. "How old are you?"

Still smiling, she said, "Fifteen. You?"

"Fourteen. Only a year younger." He once again tried to push his hair out of his face. Once again, he failed. "So, you doin' anything this weekend, baby?"

Giggling, she told the desperate skater boy, "You're so cute!"

* * *

"Yes, yes, YES!" Keith screamed inside the Confession Can. "I've been waiting all of puberty for a girl to say that to me! **YES!**"

* * *

But, of course, that was all before she added: "You're like the little brother I always wanted!"

His face drooped, and he walked away from Candace, who was still smiling, without saying another word.

He noticed that another girl had shown up, along with Cody, who had joined Owen and his sister. She was standing all by herself, scowling. She looked tough, incapable to love and older than him. Keith liked that in a lady.

Strolling up to her, he flirtatiously said, "Hey, baby. How's it going?"

Rikki ignored him and continued to scowl.

"Um… hello?" He waved a hand in front of her face, checking to make sure she was still alive. She didn't even blink.

He stood and stared at her for a moment, and quickly walked away. Even he wasn't that desperate.

*T*S*R*

DJ had finally made it to the campfire pit. He ditched Jamal, telling him that there was a great bunch of rocks for him to use as make-shift dumbbells somewhere in the woods. He patted Bunny, who was still freaked out from being abused by Jamal, as he saw a bunch of his old friends by the campfire pit. "Hey, guys!" He ran toward the group, dropping his stuff with the others'.

"Hey, DJ!"

"Hi!"

"What's happening?"

Setting Bunny down by his feet so he could have a reunion with his old animal friends, DJ replied, "Not much. Just trying to get away from my creep of a brother."

"Oh yeah, the mega-jock. I remember you telling us about him last year."

DJ looked around, as if he was looking for a certain someone. "Yeah… Hey, where's your sister, Cody?"

Cody's smile disappeared and he pointed in her direction. "Oh, uh… s-she's over there…" DJ continued to search, but couldn't find her. Getting up and turning DJ's head manually by grabbing and twisting it, he said, "Right over there."

Rikki was still in the same spot that she was in before, still grimacing.

DJ twitched and let out a little shriek. "_**That's**_ your older sister? Man, I thought that was the world's most depressing totem pole!" Realizing how mean that sounded, he quickly added, "No offense."

Cody laughed and said, "None taken. It wasn't anything I didn't know before…"

"What's up, y'all?"

Recognizing that voice, Bridgette got up and ran toward the person behind the voice. "LeShawna!" She gave her a hug and told her, "It's so great to see you!"

Hugging back, LeShawna said, "You too, girl! What's up with you?"

"Not much. Where are your sisters?"

"Well, I don't give a crap where Raven is, but I think Jovie's talking to Owen's sister…"

*T*S*R*

"Hey, what's happening, girlfriend?" Jovie walked up to Candace, offering a fist to knuckle-touch.

Candace, who didn't understand what she was supposed to do with it, grabbed it shook it like you would with a handshake. "Hi, I'm Candace! What's your name?"

She pretended not to think that Candace's 'handshake' was weird and said, "Jovie."

"OMG, that's such a pretty name!"

"For real? Thanks!"

"Yeah, it sounds like Juvy!"

"…"

*T*S*R*

After Gwen had arrived, her, Bridgette and LeShawna had gone somewhere to catch up after being apart for a year.

Zack and Keith had decided to hang out together, being the only two guys close to their age.

"So… see any girls you like so far?" Keith asked out of nowhere. Zack looked up from his video game and at Keith, who was fixing a wheel on his skateboard.

* * *

"To be honest," Zack sat in the Confession Can, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. "I don't really care that much about girls right now. Most of them are all so… I don't even know how to describe them! I would just like to meet one girl who can play Goo Mummies 7 without whining how mindless or gross it is!"

* * *

"Uh… I dunno. Most of them are too old for me. And Candace is kinda creepy…"

"Yeah, I guess the good one's aren't gonna get her until later…"

*T*S*R*

Letting Herbie and Xavier sit near the woods so that they could shove earth worms up their noses, Izzy continued to run on all fours toward the campfire pit, where Owen was clearly in sight. He was talking to Duncan, who had apparently forgiven him for the sticky bun incident. Faster and faster she ran, gaining speed so that her arrival would be extra special. Faster, faster, faster…

**BAM!**

She ran right into Owen's back, making him topple over and into a nearby bush. Getting back up on her hind legs, she bounced into the bush with him. When he stopped spazzing out from the shock of the impact, he looked to see the red head.

He grinned, pulling her into a big hug. "Izzy!"

She hugged back. "Owen!"

"Izzy!"

"Owen!"

"Izzy!"

"Izzy!"

"Owen!"

"Izzy!"

"Owen!"

"Crab cakes!"

They said nothing after that. All that could be heard were the sounds of major make out action.

*T*S*R*

Selena dropped her guitar case and suitcase in the pile with everybody else's stuff and looked around, hoping to find somebody to talk to. Her brother went to talk to some of his old friends and Zoey ran off somewhere, so she was lonely. She saw some smiley girl and an African-Canadian girl talking.

Well, Smiley was talking. The other girl was just trying to keep herself from slapping the chipper chatterbox.

She spotted two guys about her age sitting on a log. One of them was messing around with a wheel on his skateboard. The other one was playing a handheld video game with one hand and pushing a strand of dark brown hair out of his face with another.

* * *

"Well," Selena propped her boots on one side of the Confession Can and her back on the other and continued, "Most of my friends back home are guys, anyway… So I figured what the heck!"

* * *

Selena walked up to the two and sat down on an empty space on the log next to Zack. The two boys noticed that they had company, so they looked up.

"Hey, guys. I'm Selena."

"Hey, I'm Zack."

"Keith."

Looking down at Zack's game, she gasped and swiped it out of his hand. "You have Goo Mummies 7? Awesome!" She started pushing buttons, the game making a variety of beeps in response.

Zack looked confused. "You like Goo Mummies 7?"

Not looking up from the game, she replied, "Totally. Duncan and I play it all time."

Zack grinned, watching her play. Keith eyed the two, noticing how Zack was looking at her. He grinned, patted Zack on the back, and leaned in to whisper, "I'll leave you two gaming lovebirds alone…" He dropped his board on the ground and skated away, leaving the gamers to talk about cheat codes and keybinding.

*T*S*R*

Marilee was a bit ahead of her brothers, who were still lugging her stuff around for her. She teasingly yelled, "C'mon, you Nancy boys! Pick up the pace!"

Geoff gasped, but not from his sister's comment. There, just a few feet away, was Bridgette. She was talking to Gwen and LeShawna, but when she saw her favorite party boy, she stopped. She stood up, grinned like crazy and half-screamed, "Geoff!" She ran toward him, leaving LeShawna and Gwen surfer girl-less.

Geoff dropped Marilee's bags and yelled back, "Bridgette!" He ran toward her and they met half way, smacking themselves right into their first kiss since they left the island.

Back where Geoff had dropped the luggage, Duke dropped his share of the luggage, along with his two beer-filled coolers. Marilee, still a little annoyed that Geoff didn't continue carrying her stuff, angrily asked her eldest brother, "What do you think **you're** doing?"

He shrugged and replied, "Geoff got to stop."

Crossing her arms over her chest, she said, "That's because Geoff has a girlfriend, dork. Of course I let him stop to see her."

"You're calling **me** a dork? I don't see you locking lips with anyone!"

Blowing a small raspberry, she added, "That's only because I choose to be single. **You're **single because you're an unattractive, immature alcoholic!"

"… I am not unattractive!" With that, he stormed off, leaving Marilee and her numerous bags alone.

Glaring at him leaving, Marilee angrily grabbed a few of her bags and started dragging them to the pile.

* * *

Marilee confessed, "Okay, I know I may seem a little harsh, but I'm actually a really nice person! It's just my moron brothers that make me all cow-like, especially Duke. C'mon, spending an hour, let alone fourteen years with that guy would make Gandhi punch someone in the face!"

* * *

After she had dragged all of her bags to the pile and made sure that Geoff's and Duke's were still in the spots that they were dropped in, Marilee walked toward Geoff and Bridgette, who had stopped making out so that they could talk to Keith. When they saw Marilee coming, the group turned around.

"Hey, sis!"

"Hey, Geoff." Looking at the surfer girl, Marilee added, "And I'm guessing that you're Bridgette. Nice to meet you."

Bridgette smiled and said, "Yeah, you too. Geoff's told me so much about you… Please don't hurt me."

Marilee glared at Geoff, who gave a sheepish grin in return.

Bridgette giggled and quickly added, "I'm just kidding!" Gesturing toward her brother, she said, "This is my brother Keith. Keith, this is Geoff's sister, Marilee."

Keith took one look at her and knew that she was his next flirtation victim. "Hey there."

"Hi."

Geoff and Bridgette moved away from the two slightly, giving them the opportunity to talk privately.

* * *

"Bridge and I thought it'd be cool if my sister and her brother became friends." Geoff adjusted his cowboy hat and grinned into the camera in the Confession Can. "They're the same age and they have a lot in common. For example… Um…. Uh…" He scratched his head, trying to think of something. "I got it! They both have blonde hair!" Grinning triumphantly, he continued, "I'm sure they'll be great friends!"

* * *

Marilee glanced around, trying to think of something to say. "So… um…" But before she could think of anything, she noticed that he was looking at something of hers.

Two somethings.

She gasped and slapped him hard across the face. "Holy crap, you pervert!"

Bridgette and Geoff, who had been watching on the sidelines, didn't like where this was going. As Marilee was about to throttle Keith, Geoff ran up to her and held her back. Bridgette got in between the two and her little brother gladly hid behind her.

Marilee tried with all her might to break free of her brother's grip, but he still kept one arm around her waist and his free hand holding back her curled-up fist. "Let me go! I'm gonna kill that little son of a bi-"

"Bridge," Geoff interrupted his sister's curse and nervously smiled. "I think they like each other!"

*T*S*R*

Courtney and her brother had finally made it to the campfire pit. Jackson had decided to go somewhere private to finish his book, but Courtney wanted to stay and meet up with some of her old friends. She just hoped she wouldn't run into-

"Hey, Princess."

_Crap._

Duncan walked up to her, smirking like he always did when she was around. "You miss me?"

Sighing heavily, she replied, "No, Duncan, I didn't. We broke up after we left the island, and I want it to stay that way."

"C'mon," Duncan crept slowly toward her. "You know you dig me."

Courtney crept farther away from him every time he got closer and said, "I'll admit, I was going through some insane 'bad boy' phase during last season, but not this year. I'm so over you."

"Whatever. You want me."

"No, I don't! You may be dangerous and unpredictable and… exciting and… hot…" Forgetting where she was going with that sentence, she grabbed Duncan by the front of his shirt and pulled him into a long kiss.

* * *

Duncan sat in the Confession Can and grinned, completely unsurprised by Courtney's kiss. "I knew she'd be back."

* * *

*T*S*R*

Zoey had wandered away from the campfire pit to find something fun to do. There were mostly teenagers there. She wanted to find someone closer to her age to play with. She had noticed that the family before hers had two little boys in it. Sure, they were a bit older than her, but they looked like fun.

She had noticed that they had stopped somewhere near the woods. She had been wandering around there for a while, but saw no sign of the red headed twins. Just as she was about to give up, she heard yelling. Walking closer toward the yelling, she saw that Herbie and Xavier were flinging mud at each other. They continued to yell and laugh until Herbie noticed that Zoey was looking at them. He stopped and waved wildly. "Hi, girl I don't know! I'm Herbie, and this is Xavier." He pointed to his brother, who waved, as well.

She giggled and waved back. "I'm Zoey! Whatcha doin'?"

Xavier said, "Havin' a mudball fight! Wanna play?"

She looked a little skeptical at first, but eventually grinned, ran toward the duo and squealed, "Sure!" She grabbed a fistful of mud and threw it at the closest twin, who happened, to be Xavier. Everything else was pretty much a brown blur after that…

*T*S*R*

Duke walked toward a totem pole, muttering about how he wasn't unattractive, despite what his sister thought.

* * *

"That girl seriously gets on my nerves." He grumbled, still thinking about what Marilee said. "I could get a girlfriend if I wanted to! Why does she think I'm here? I'll bet there are a ton of hot chicks here!"

* * *

When he reached the totem pole, he saw that an attractive African-Canadian girl was leaning against it, adjusting the tube top that was barely covering anything. She noticed that she had company and turned to look at Duke.

"Hey, I'm Duke."

"Name's Raven."

They stood silent for a few seconds, and then simultaneously pounced toward each other, exchanging a strong kiss.

*T*S*R*

Trent dropped his stuff on the pile with everybody else's belongings and Grace did the same with hers. He looked around, trying to find his favorite Goth. He saw a lot of familiar faces, and some new ones. He even recognized one of the new guys as Gwen's brother, but didn't see Gwen.

He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around, to find her pale, but happy face. "Gwen!" The couple hugged, and soon shared a well-anticipated kiss.

Grace looked up at the lovebirds, obviously not happy.

* * *

"Gwen." Grace said her name as if it was a curse. "I can't **stand** her. She's the only thing that Trent can think about! I don't know why, either. She's just an ugly, stupid doody-face!"

* * *

Grace looked around, trying to find something. She wandered a little bit away from Trent and Gwen, continuing her search. She finally found something.

A really big rock.

She picked it up with both hands, walking back toward the teens. She lifted her makeshift projectile high above her head, ready to toss it at the Goth's head, until she heard a little girl say, "Hi!"

She stopped and turned around, finding Zoey was grinning at her. She grinned back and said, "Hi! My name's Grace."

"I'm Zoey. Whatcha doin'?"

She sat her rock down, pointed to Gwen and told her, "I was gonna throw this big rock at that ugly, stupid doody-face."

"…Cool! I just finished having a mudball fight with those two." She pointed to Herbie and Xavier, who were a few feet away, sword fighting with some sticks. They were both covered in dried up mud.

"You did?" Zoey didn't have a spot of dirt on her. "Then why aren't you dirty?"

"Oh, my big brother taught me how to clean up any suspicious messes, like mud and blood, without water and soap. He also taught me how to make broken stuff look like an accident."

* * *

"Hmm…" Grace mischievously grinned as she leaned against the Confession Can wall. "She's could be a useful ally to me…"

* * *

All of the campers were enjoying themselves; just talking, making new friends, and reuniting with old. That is until they saw another familiar girl finally walk into the campfire pit.

Heather.

* * *

Dun dun dun! Will Heather be as mean and horrible as she was last season? Will Jovie ever tell Candace to just shut up? Will Keith get any girl to like him? Will there finally be a challenge? How the heck do you clean mud or blood off without water or soap? Find out in the next chapter of **Total Sibling Rivalry**!


	4. Day 1, Part 4: Heather's New Leaf

Sorry for that cliff hanger last chapter… The chapter was getting long and Heather's arrival was going to make it even longer, so… here it is now! :D

Man, this chapter really sucks. DX It was written in only one day. I just needed to get Heather there and introduce the challenge. The next chapter will be much better and longer, I promise!

I guess that I should mention that Jackson's in college, getting a major in psychology. It'll make more sense later…

Total Drama Island and all of its character belong to Teletoon and Fresh TV

Total Sibling Rivalry and all of its characters (except the interns) belong to me

The interns belong to their rightful owners (you know who you are…)

R&R&E!

* * *

There she was, the devil herself. All of her hair had grown back from last year's shaving, but something else had grown on her as well.

A warm smile.

She had traded in last year's revealing halter top and short shorts for a more modest maroon t-shirt and khaki capris. And, the weirdest thing of all: she actually looked happy to be back. Next to her, there was a ten year old boy. He blew a raspberry at her and ran off, mischievously laughing.

"Damien, get back here!" He ignored her and continued running. She sighed and shook her head, annoyed at her little brother. The twenty four campers who were at the campfire pit were glaring at her, but she still smiled. "Hi, everybody. It's nice to see you all again."

Gwen walked toward her, arms crossed over her chest. "Wish I could say the same for you, you little cow!"

Heather's smile faded, but she continued, "Yeah, I wanted to talk to you all about that." She paused, as if she was expecting someone to throw a rotten tomato at her, but when she remained tomato-less, she kept going. "I know I was really, really harsh last year. I just though I was playing the game like I should have, but after watching some of the reruns, I saw how horrible I was really being to you all. Especially you, Gwen. I just want to say that I'm sorry. Since last year, I've turned over a new leaf. I promised myself that I would never be as mean as I was last season. I just hope you all can find it in your heart to forgive me." She stopped and looked at the group hopefully. Some of them were still angrily glaring at her, like Gwen, Trent and LeShawna, but some looked kind of like they believed her.

Before anybody could speak up or throw a tomato at her, Chris walked up to the campers. "Now that everybody's here and you've all gotten acquainted…" He looked around, realizing that not everybody was there. "Wait, aren't we missing a few people?"

"Yeah, Jamal's in the woods lifting rocks, Jackson went to read somewhere, and Damien ran off."

"Hmm… we can't start without them, so I guess we'll have to find them." Chris whistled and all four interns immediately came running toward him. They skidded to a halt, waiting for whatever order they were going to get.

Heather, seeing her step-sister, waved a little. "Hi, Mia!"

Mia just rolled her eyes and looked back at Chris.

"Okay, ladies," Chris walked up to the three, ready to give them their assignment. "We've got three campers missing. Marina: go find Jamal."

Marina nodded, running into the forest, her hamster Freddy following close behind her in his plastic ball.

"Tamyra: go get Jackson." She nodded with a smile and started walking toward the mess hall, not sure where to look first.

"Mia, since Damien's your step-brother, I'll let you find him." She groaned, but walked away to find him.

"Holly: get me a hot dog."

Holly looked at her boss like he was crazy. "A hot dog? What does that have to do with finding the missing campers?"

He grinned at her. "Nothing. I'm just hungry." She looked like she was about to say something, but she shrugged and left to get Chris his meaty treat.

Before he was out of earshot, he yelled, "With mustard!" He turned back to the group and grinned again. "Okay, campers, sit down and let me explain how this'll go down." The siblings did what they were told, some rushing so that they were guaranteed to get a seat. But, of course, some of them had to stand, since there were only twelve stumps divided among twenty five people. When everybody was adjusted, Chris explained, "You will each be divided into two teams. Every couple of days, there will be a challenge. Whichever team wins one will gain invincibility, but the losing team will be sending one of your sorry butts home! The people who make it to the Final Two will have their previously voted off siblings come back to camp, so they can compete for the grand prize. Only one family will come out on top! Let's just say this season won't be boring…"

There was a mixture of expressions from the campers, including fear, joy, ambition, and pure boredom.

"Any questions?"

Selena was the first to raise her hand. "Yeah?"

"There isn't a possibility of families being on separate teams, is there? That doesn't seem fair."

"Nope. Each person will be on the same team as their siblings, unless they're voted off in the First Four before you're divided into teams."

"Okay, I ju- Wait, what's the First Four?"

"… Did I forget to mention that?" He got a few nods in response. "Oh, well, before you're divided into teams, you and your siblings will compete in a challenge to show everybody else what kind of competitors you all are. The four who get the most votes will be heading home. Isn't that awesome?"

"No."

"…Well, I thought it was! Now all we have to do is wait for the other campers to get back."

"We're back!" Chris turned around to find Tamyra, with Jackson close behind. He took a place beside Rikki, taking a second glance at her.

* * *

"That Rikki girl seems like a tortured person." Jackson was flipping through a psychology book, but still managed to talk to the camera. "I would really like to study her mind, see what makes her tick…"

* * *

"Okay, there's Jackson. Now where's-"

Mia's screams could be heard, but nobody could see her. The screams got closer, until Mia came bolting out of the woods, Damien tightly gripping her long hair. She skidded to a halt and violently shook her head until he finally flew off and bounced right in front of Chris. Chris took a glance at him and looked back up. "That's two. Only Jamal is left."

*T*S*R*

Marina had been running around the woods for five minutes, but there was still no sign of Jamal. Before she decided to turn around, she heard a load thud. She walked toward where the thud had come from; making sure that Freddy was still following her. Jamal was lifting a huge boulder, like it was a dumbbell. He didn't notice that he wasn't alone because his eyes were closed in concentration. He continued to lift the rock until little Freddy rolled over to him and gently ran over his left foot. He shrieked in a very DJ-like manner and dropped the rock, lifting his foot to prevent the unknown creature from touching him again. When he looked down and realized it was just a hamster, he was relieved that no one was around to hear that scream. That is, until he saw that Marina was standing right there, trying to keep herself from laughing at him.

"Uh… let's keep that between you and me, okay?"

*T*S*R*

When the two had finally arrived back at camp, Chris had explained their first challenges in greater detail. The families composed of only two people would report to the Dock of Shame and the families with three people would walk to the top of the thousand foot cliff. The duos were going to run in a three legged race and the trios were going to jump off the cliff, trying to avoid the shark-infested waters.

Creative, right?

However, Chris had explained that it didn't need to be creative. It needed to show each other how valuable each person was going to be as a teammate.

Still, despite how uncreative it was, it was definitely going to be worth a few good laughs.

* * *

Gasp! :O Has Heather really turned over a new leaf? Who will be voted off and become one of the First Four? Will Grace torture Chris and/or Gwen? Will Jackson psycho-analyze Rikki? Will Chris ever get his hot dog with mustard? Find out in the next chapter of Total Sibling Rivalry


	5. Day 1, Part 5: You Jumpin' or What?

I'm finally updating this! Yay! :D

This is part one of the first challenge, with Duncan, Izzy, Geoff, LeShawna, and their siblings. They all jump off the cliff.

Yeah, that was the best I could come up with. Sue me.

We also find out what happened to Holly while she was getting Chris' hot dog. Surprisingly, a lot of people were wondering about that…

The other contestants and their challenge will be in the next chapter. The reason that this is gonna be in two parts is because the next chapter is gonna be much longer. I mean really long. **REALLY LONG**.

TDI and all of its characters belong to Fresh TV and Teletoon

TSR and all of its characters belong to me

Holly belongs to BloodyAphrodite

Read, review, and enjoy!

* * *

Marilee peered over the edge of the cliff, looking at the drop that her and her brothers had to take.

"Wow."

"Yeah, my words exactly." Duke peered over the edge, as well.

Geoff walked up to the two and patted them each on the back. "Relax! I did this last year and it was a breeze."

"Yeah, but last year, the target was bigger. Now there's only enough room to squeeze several people in there." Chris walked up to the trio and looked down as well. Their target was indeed much smaller than it was last year. "Unless you all hit the target exactly, you're shark bait!"

Marilee looked at the host suspiciously. "…That doesn't make me feel any better."

He just grinned and responded, "I know. So who's up first?"

Without saying anything, Izzy and the twins ran to the edge of the cliff, with Izzy jumping first, then Herbie and then Xavier. The three let out wild screams of joy, followed by three splashes. A few of the campers looked down, seeing that they had dived safely into the target area. A small boat pulled up and they all climbed on. "C'mon, guys! It's easy and fun!" Izzy screamed up to her comrades.

Selena was sitting next to Zoey, adjusting her sister's floaties. Both looked nervous, but knew they had to jump, too.

* * *

"Sure, we were nervous, but we Calivers are tough!" Selena, still in her magenta and black bathing suit, said strongly, "We were gonna jump, whether we liked it or not."

* * *

"Okay, let's do this, Zoey." The sisters got up and started charging toward the edge, each letting out a little scream as they ran. They almost jumped, but when they reached the edge and saw how far they had to jump, they skidded to a halt. A second later, they ran in the opposite direction, flailing their arms and screaming their heads off.

Before they could reach the escalator that mysteriously appeared moments ago, Duncan scooped the duo up, tossing them onto both of his shoulders by their bellies. "You two aren't going anywhere! We're jumping off this cliff!" Despite his sisters slamming their fists on his back and screaming to let them go, he still charged toward the edge and jumped off, making sure that the two girls stayed firm on his shoulders.

Selena, her blonde and pink hair rippling as they fell, screeched, "**Let us go!**"

Duncan, who was unaffected by the monstrous dive, merely grinned a little and said, "Okay then."

Selena and Zoey slipped off of his shoulders, still close to him, but now on their own. Realizing how much worse that was, they reached back down. Zoey clung onto his left arm, while Selena clung to the right. They both simultaneously yelled, "**Don't let go!**"

Before Duncan had a chance to smirk, the trio splashed into the target area. Popping back up, Selena and Zoey examined themselves, making sure that all of their body parts were still in tact. While getting up onto the boat, Zoey looked up, seeing that LeShawna was peering over the edge.

"Let's do this, y'all!" LeShawna looked up at her sisters. Jovie looked ready, but Raven was already riding the escalator down. LeShawna ran to the escalator and yelled, "Where do you think **you're** goin'?"

"Away from here! I can't afford to bruise these two." She gestured down to her you-know-whats and turned around, not saying another word.

LeShawna growled slightly at her older sister, but turned back toward Jovie and asked, "You ready, girl?"

Her little sister said nothing, but nodded with a determined look on her face. She ran to the edge, jumped off, and screamed, with LeShawna not far behind her. The two sistas successfully landed in the circle, with the boat already waiting for them.

Back up on the cliff, Chris held a clipboard, checking names off. "Okay, so all of the O'Callaghans and Calivers jumped. All of the Joneses jumped except for Raven." Looking up at the remaining campers, he said, "That just leaves the Andersons."

Taking a deep breath, Marilee said, "You ready to do this, guys?"

Geoff walked up next to her and exclaimed, "I'm ready!"

The girl took a glance around, noticing that her alcoholic brother was missing. "Where's Duke? Don't tell me he chickened out already!"

The party boy shrugged. "Sorry, sis. He left a while after Raven."

She groaned, slapping her forehead with her hand.

* * *

"Seriously," Marilee pouted, propping her platform sandals on the side of the Confession Can, "Can you blame me for hating that wuss?"

* * *

She shook it off and grinned at her non-chicken brother. "Let's do this, Geoff!"

He grinned back and patted her on the back. "That's the spirit!" He bounded off, wailing happily as he did.

Marilee bounced after him, not screaming as enthusiastically as he was. Her screams were more like screams of terror. She flailed her arms and legs wildly as she screeched, as if that would somehow help.

Geoff had landed safely in the circle and looked up to wait for Marilee. He waited for a while, but saw no one. "Um… sis?" He looked around, but didn't see her. She hadn't landed in the shark infested part of the water, had she? Marilee was tough, but she wasn't _shark_ tough!

Though Geoff couldn't see, Marilee was hanging from a long branch on the edge of the cliff by the strap of her one-strapped green and pink bikini. She just crossed her arms over her chest and scrunched her eyebrows angrily.

* * *

Having the same expression she had on the branch, Marilee mused, "I think this island hates me."

* * *

The campers who had arrived one the shore were able to see what had happened, however. The girls looked really sorry for her and her predicament, but Duke and Duncan were too busy laughing their heads off. Waiting to catch a breath for laughing so hard, Duncan yelled up to her, "Whatcha doing, Barbie?"

Before Duncan could finish, Duke yelled, "Just **hanging out**?" Chuckling at their own (very bad) joke, Duke bent over, clutching his aching gut as Duncan continued to point and laugh.

Violently shaking from anger, the dangling fashionista yelled back down, "**Shut up, you ugly, poorly dressed -**" From shaking so hardly, she was broken free from the branch, safely landing in the circle next to Geoff.

Glancing at the spot where she landed, he said, "Well, it's about time…"

When she resurfaced, she gave Geoff a high five and screamed excitedly. She looked like she was about to jump up and splash around in joy, but suddenly got an odd look on her face, stuck her head in the water and popped back up, looked like she wished she could have just gotten eaten by a shark.

She got a chorus of cheers from the campers, excluding Duke and Duncan (for obvious reasons) and Selena. She was too busy looking at something.

Marilee's bikini top hanging from the branch.

Selena gasped, looking back at Marilee. You couldn't see anything below her chin, so nobody but the two of them knew what had happened.

* * *

"There was no way I could let that poor girl face the others _topless,_" the pink punk explained to the camera. "Especially my brother! He would tease her to no end! But, then again, I don't think Duncan likes Marilee that much, so he'll probably tease her, anyway… But still, **that** would just make him go insult-crazy!"

* * *

Selena grabbed something and jumped on the small boat just as it left, ignoring the others' questioning. When it reached the circle, Geoff hopped onto the boat while Selena jumped back into the circle. The others, now including Geoff, were confused as to what was happening, but were too busy asking each other about it to notice what the two girls were doing.

Selena, now soaking wet again, held the thing she had brought with her to Marilee, revealing that it was a thick, black t-shirt. "Nobody will be able to see through this, even though it's wet." She tossed it to the topless blonde, who gladly caught it, dove under the water and appeared again, wearing the soggy shirt.

The duo hopped onto the boat, but Marilee couldn't hug her savior fast enough. "Thank you **SO** much!"

She hugged back, saying, "No problem! There was no way I was gonna let you flash all of Canada."

They separated and Marilee looked nervously at her. "The others didn't see anything, did they?"

"No. I don't think they're as smart as I am." The two new friends shared a small giggle, hopping back onto shore. Before anybody could ask what all of that was about, Chris came back, riding his ATV.

"Okay, there were ten jumpers and two chickens. Pretty good! You guys can hang out anywhere you want, now. Just be sure to be back at the campfire pit for the bonfire ceremony at 8. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna find out why Holly hasn't gotten my hot dog yet!" He turned around and drove away, leaving the dripping wet campers to walk all the way back to camp on foot.

*T*S*R*

Back in the kitchen, Holly was holding an open copy of _Twilight_ in one hand and twirling some of her hair with the other.

Sitting next to her on the counter was a very cold hot dog with mustard.

She snapped the book shut and smiled, reminiscing the ending of the book she loved so much, when she suddenly remembered-

"Oh, crap! Chris' hot dog!" She grabbed the dog and bolted out of the swinging doors.

Luckily, Chris had already arrived and was at the front entrance of the mess hall. "Hey, Holly, where's my hot dog?"

Holly, who had become both angry and nervous from fear of getting in trouble, flung the hot dog in Chris' face and ran past him before he could say anything.

The host stood silent for a minute, running the previous scene in his head a few times, trying to make sense of what had just happened. He wiped the mustard off of his face and mumbled to himself, "Maybe she's a vegetarian or something…"

* * *

Wow, this chapter sucked worse than I thought… oh well. What twist will be added to the remaining campers' three-legged race? What unwelcome face will Trent run into? Is Holly really a vegetarian? Find out the answer to all of these exciting cliffhangers in the next chapter of **Total Sibling Rivalry!**


	6. Day 1, Part 6: A Smart Lil' Devil

This was a long, but incredibly fun chapter to write. :D I got a lot of help from pinkluver93 on the whole Chris and Grace thingy. Thanks a lot for that, Pinky (That is your new official nickname. I don't care if you disagree, because I'm calling you that whether you like it or not.)! :D :D :D :D

Summary: The rest of the campers compete in a three-legged race of sorts. I don't need to write a darned summery. Just read the stupid thing, ya lazy bums! (Just kidding, you know I love you all :D)

You all know who and what belongs to whom by now. I'm tired of repeating myself.

* * *

Back at the Dock of Shame, Chef had finished tying the remaining siblings together by their ankles. There was a sloppily painted white line on the dock, separating the teams of two from their 'track.' Trent and Gwen were talking to each other, much to Grace's dismay.

* * *

"It's not that I **HATE** Gwen," Grace confessed, "It's just that I wish she'd jump off the cliff and get eaten by a shark."

* * *

Chris had finally arrived at the dock, his face now mustard-free. "Okay, it's time for the three-legged race!"

Gwen turned to the host and said in a sarcastic tone, "Wow, how creative…"

"I already explained about the lack of creativity!" Chris angrily yelled at her. He put his usual smile back on and continued. "Besides, this race is a little different… Now, as you can see, your luggage is missing. We've hidden each family's stuff in various places on the island. Your goal is to find all of your luggage before 6 PM. And remember, you must be tied to somebody at all time."

"Wait," Heather looked concerned, realizing something. "What if we don't find it in time?"

"Then we'll just tell you where it is so you can get it or one of the interns will get it. But I suggest that you try to find it, in case it's **your** luggage that I hid in the septic tank…"

"**WHAT?**"

Laughing, he added, "Just kidding! I'm not allowed to put you personal items in places that disgusting… But I am allowed to put them in dangerous places!"

The former queen bee looked really worried at first, but eventually shook it off and smiled a little, ready to accept her first challenge as a nicer girl.

Gwen glared at her, not at all convinced that she was a changed woman.

* * *

"Come on, does she seriously think I'll believe that she's changed her evil ways?" Gwen crossed her arms over her chest, furrowing her brows as she confessed, "It's going to take a lot more than some lame little apology speech to convince me to forgive her!"

* * *

Chris handed each team a slip of paper and continued, "Each one of these slips has a riddle on them. The riddle will tell you where your stuff's hidden. First team back wins a mystery prize!"

Everybody started buzzing, wondering what the mystery prize would be. They continued to chatter until a loud whistle blew, making them stop and hold their ears. Chris put the whistle back in his pocket and grinned at the now silent group. "Let's get this thing started!" He stepped out of the way and pulled a checkered flag out of nowhere, holding it high above his head. "Ready… Set… **GO!**" He swept the flag and like that, the teams were off. Well, most of them anyway.

Rikki stood with her arms crossed, not caring that Cody was yanking the leg tied to hers. "C'mon, Rikki, we've got to get our stuff!" She didn't move.

Jackson looked her up and down, finger placed on his chin questioningly. "Rikki, is it okay if I ask you a few questions?"

She only blinked.

"I'll take that as a yes." He pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket, looking over the questions he had written up for her.

Courtney was reviewing the riddle Chris had handed her, trying to solve it. "Okay, this riddle mentions 'staying on top', so I think our stuff's hidden at the peak of that cliff… What are you doing?"

"Psycho-analyzing Rikki." Turning back toward Rikki, he asked, "Did you endure any traumatizing moments as a child?"

The CIT groaned and slapped a hand on her forehead. "She's not going to answer your questions! She won't even talk! There's no time for this, Jackson!"

He ignored her and continued asking questions, though Rikki didn't answer any of them.

"Pss, Courtney!" Cody leaned back a little to whisper behind his silent sister's back, with Courtney doing the same with her brother's. "I think I know how we can leave without these two!"

"No, we can't," she whispered back confusedly, "Chris told us we have to stay tied to our siblings while searching for our luggage."

He cocked an eyebrow and grinned cleverly. "He didn't say that. He said we had to be tied to _someone_."

She grinned at him, realizing what he meant. What he had in mind technically wouldn't break any rules. As long as she'd remain out of trouble, Courtney would be willing to do anything to win.

Even tying herself to some techno geek.

*T*S*R*

DJ and Jamal had finally been able to figure out what their riddle meant. It wasn't exactly the first place that DJ would have liked to look. But what he wanted to know was why the heck Jamal wasn't freaked out to go into that bear cave!

The Jamaican-Canadian duo strolled to the cave. DJ looked like he was about to pee his pants, but Jamal looked as cool as a cucumber.

"Why do you look so calm, man? We're about to fight a bear!"

Jamal rolled his beady eyes and said, "You mean **I'm** about to fight a bear."

He picked up the pace, forcing DJ to speed up as well. They walked into the cave, seeing the bear, wide awake and clearly not happy that they were in his crib. He growled ferociously and DJ screeched, closing his eyes and shielding his face with his arms. Even though his eyes were shut tight, he could still tell that Jamal was jumping into action, since he felt a tugging at the leg tied to his brother's. Punches and growls of pain were heard. The punches were from Jamal and the growls were from the bear.

When things had quieted down, DJ opened his eyes, seeing that Jamal was holding several duffel bags and grinning victoriously. In front of him was a heavily injured and unconscious bear. Chunks of hair had been ripped off, so the bruises could be seen. The brick house would have felt sorry for the creature if he didn't already know that that bear was insane.

He also remembered why he didn't completely hate his older brother.

*T*S*R*

Owen and Candace's riddle had talked about a tree, so they figured their personal belongings were at the top of some tree. It was hard for them to see the tops of some of the trees, but they had managed to find them on top of what looked like the tallest oak in the entire forest.

Candace looked up, still smiling, despite their dilemma. "How are we gonna get all the way up there?" There was silence. "I guess we'll just have to climb up there," she answered herself, since she never got an answer from Owen, who couldn't think of one.

He looked up at their luggage and nervously said, "Um… I dunno, Candace. I don't think I can climb that high."

"Sure you can!" She grinned at him and dragged him to the tree so they could get ready to climb. "Just pretend that our suitcases are full of crispy rice squares!"

Owen got a delightful glint is his eyes, looking up at the luggage again.

* * *

Letting out a chuckle, Owen told the camera, "I do like crispy rice squares…"

* * *

He immediately started shimmying up the trunk with Candace clinging to his side to keep from getting in his way. It was gonna be a long ride up.

*T*S*R*

Trent continued to run, with Grace clinging to his leg, since her size made it impossible to keep up with him. Trent looked down at her while he was still jogging and asked, "You see him yet?"

She took another glance around the heavily tree-populated area that they were currently in and yelled back up, "No!"

Trent looked back up at his path, both frustrated and relived at the same time. He was actually hoping that they wouldn't complete the challenge. That way, one of the interns would have to get their stuff so that he wouldn't have to face-

Well, just read their riddle to find out who I'm talking about:

_To find your possessions and to make this verse rhyme,_

_You'll have to try and take them from a frightening mime._

Despite how poorly written that riddle was, it was pretty clear what they had to do. All they had to do was find that stupid mime.

Trent skidded to a halt, bending over a little to catch his breath. He had been running for a good two hours, but hadn't seen any signs of the pasty-faced menace. The musician plopped down on the grass, making sure not to crush Grace under his leg as he did. She rolled on top of his leg by her belly and continued clinging to him like he was a teddy bear. She glanced up at him, worry in her eyes. The little girl knew how freaked out he got by mimes, so she asked, "Are you sure you're gonna be okay, Trent?"

He managed to fake a smile. "Yeah, I'll be fine, kiddo. I've dealt with that mime before, you know."

"Yeah, but you dealt with him by running away from him."

Unable to think of a retaliation, he sat mute for a moment. But he finally thought of something to ask her. "Why do you have to be so smart?" She only grinned in return, but that ended when they heard a twig snap. Trent jolted back up, scanning the area. "Did you hear that?"

She looked around as well, her arms and legs still wrapped around his leg. "Yeah… Maybe he's close by."

* * *

"Okay," Trent rubbed the back of his head nervously as he explained, "I was only able to get rid of the mime last time because I jumped into the lake. Now that Grace is tied to my leg, I can't risk drowning her just to win and I can't untie her because that would disqualify us both. How else do you get rid of a mime?"

* * *

Taking a deep breath, he started walking again. They came upon a wide field and standing in the middle of that field was the back and white horror, with their luggage sitting behind him. Trent gulped, but continued to creep closer toward his fear. He had gotten close enough so that he was just a few feet away from the mime. _So far, so good…_ He had almost made it, but just as he was two feet away from him, the mime started pressing his hands flatly on the space in front of Trent's face, creating an imaginary wall.

That was just too much for him.

His slightly frightened demeanor changed to one of absolute fear as he screamed, turned around, and bolted from the mime, who followed them. The rope keeping Trent and Grace tied together was loosening, so the brunette girl tightened her grip, but to no avail. The rope snapped, making her tumble to the ground. Her brother hadn't even noticed that she wasn't with him anymore. He was too busy fleeing in terror.

Grace grumbled as she got up and rubbed her aching head. She walked over to their luggage, and started dragging it with great difficulty. She may be an evil little demon, but she isn't a very strong demon.

She had managed to move their stuff a good 3 yards, until she heard laughter. Curious as to whom it belonged to, she dropped the handles of the luggage and wandered toward the source. What she found was an extremely large tent with several dozen wires coiling out from it. One of the flaps was open, so she peeked in, seeing Chris leaning back in an expensive looking swivel chair. There were several monitors and a few of the campers could be seen completing the challenge. But for some reason, Courtney and Cody were tied to each other instead of to their siblings. Grace didn't really care about that, though. She was too busy glaring at Chris as he laughed, pointing at one screen in particular.

The one with Trent on it.

He was still running from the mime, looking even more freaked out than before. Between laughs, Chris managed to mumble, "Man, that's **great** TV! Look at him run!" Trying to mimic Trent's fear-filled face, he added, "He's all like, 'AHHH!'" He went back to chuckling, still leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed in joy at the black-haired boy's misery.

The victim's little sister, however, was not nearly as amused. She was too busy plotting ways to make Chris' life miserable. Nobody messed with her big brother.

Nobody.

*T*S*R*

Grabbing hers and Jackson's possessions from the very edge of the cliff, Courtney looked back at the geek she was tied to and said, "Okay, I've got my stuff. Let's get yours." Cody only nodded in response and the newly formed duo ran back down the hill, making sure their steps were perfectly synchronized to avoid rolling down the hill in a tangled-up mess.

Cody's riddle, as they had guessed, said that his and Rikki's suitcases were in a blueberry bush somewhere in the woods. Since there was only one blueberry bush in that forest, it wasn't hard to find. Grabbing his stuff, they ran toward the direction of the campfire pit. "I can't believe that actually worked!" Courtney screamed victoriously as she looked back at her scrawny partner.

"Yeah, me neither! That was almost** too** easy!" But, of course, Cody spoke too soon. Courtney and Cody screeched to a halt, seeing the growling creature standing in front of them.

It was the bear, now extra-agitated from his previous pummeling. He obviously remembered Cody from last year's paintball deer hunt.

Cody was speechless, but Courtney was able to stutter, "I kn-knew this w-was a b-bad idea!"

*T*S*R*

Grace finally came up with the best plan to torture Chris. It was probably the least lethal one, too. Her plan wasn't really going to hurt him or anything, but it'd annoy the crap out of him, which was good enough for her.

The dozens of wires coming from Chris' secret hiding spot were plugged into a large extension cord, which she guessed lead to some kind of power source back at camp. She guessed that if those plugs happened to be yanked from the extension cord, it would take forever to plug them all back in and to reset the televisions. He'd probably get one of the interns or Chef to fix it, but it'd still tick him off, so she was okay with her little plan.

She gathered several cords in each of her tiny hands and pulled them out with great might. They popped out successfully, making the tent go pitch black except for the sunlight leaking in through the entrance.

"What the heck?" Chris stood up, tapping one of the television screens, wondering what just happened. He scratched his head, extremely confused. Suddenly, a very small voice cleared her throat. The sadist turned around to find Grace standing in the entrance of the tent, twirling a few of the plugs in her curled-up fist, evilly smirking at him. He furrowed his brow, looking down at the root of all evil. "I should have figured it was you. What'd you do that for? Why do you hate me?"

She dropped the plugs and frowned at him. "Do I need a reason to hate you? You tortured Trent last year and I know you're gonna do the same thing this year. I'm not letting you get away with that. And, on top of that, you're an arrogant, self-absorbed, egotistical doodyhead!"

He was slightly surprised that such a little girl would know such big (and one, immature) words, but still had something to say to her. Okay, more like yell at her. "Well, at least I'm not a little demon!"

On the inside, that comment kinda stung, but Grace wouldn't let him know that. She'd show it later. When the newly-formed part two of her plan would take place.

*T*S*R*

Trent slowly dragged his legs on the grassy ground, panting heavily. Sweat was slowly rolling down his red face. He had managed to lose the mime and was back where their stuff was. Grabbing their bags, which had somehow moved a little bit, the pooped musician started to drag them.

Finally able to talk, he wheezed, "Okay, Grace… We still have a chance to win." He waited several seconds for a response, but got nothing. "Grace?" He looked down at his leg. Grace was gone and he hadn't even realized it. "Crap." There went their chances of winning. But he didn't have anytime to think about that. He had to find his sister. "Grace!" he yelled, hoping she was nearby. "Grace! Grace Marie Di Caprio!" Normally, calling her by her full name made her come to him immediately because she'd know he meant business, but she didn't show. Trent continued to search until he heard something.

"_You've only been here for a few hours, but it feels like it's been months! That's how annoying you are!"_

He took a glance around, recognizing the voice. "Is that Chris?" Trent followed the insults, which Chris kept belting out. "Man, he must be really ticked at whoever it is he's yelling at…" He eventually came upon a tent, where he figured the sadist was. The flap was open, so he dropped their luggage on the ground and poked his head in.

Chris, who hadn't noticed Trent's presence, was yelling extremely rude (but true) insults down at Grace, who had just stood there, angrily glaring at him. She had been waiting for Trent to show up, so she could make Chris look really bad. She knew for a fact that cameras followed all of the campers, even Trent, everywhere. And she knew that Trent would be attracted by Chris' screams and see that he was yelling at her. Then Trent (and the entire viewing world) would think Chris was yelling at her for no reason because they hadn't seen what she had done to him first and he'd look like a jerk.

And that sounded good to her.

Grace had seen her brother's reflection in one of the blank TV screens and knew it was time to put her plan into action. She scrunched up her face, trying to force a few tears out. After a few started rolling down her cheeks, she turned around and ran up to Trent, hugging his leg as tears continued to stream down her face. Letting fake, but convincing, sobs out, she managed to choke out, "T-T-Trent, I-I was just asking Mr. Chris w-where the washrooms were and h-h-he started y-yelling at me f-f-for no reason! I-I'm too sw-sweet for that k-kind of treatment!"

Trent pried her off of his leg and held her, rubbing her back comfortingly, trying to stop the phony sobs she was wailing into his chest. "It's okay, Grace. C'mon, don't cry." He looked up from her to Chris, who was standing there, mouth agape.

* * *

Chris hated to say it, but he still had to admit, "The kid's a great actor."

* * *

Trent glared at him, T.O.'d by his so-called uncalled for yelling. "Dude, what is wrong with you? She was just asking you a question!"

"What? No she wasn't! Look at what she did to my monitors!" He pointed to the blank screens.

Wiping some of her crocodile tears away, Grace turned her head in his direction and spoke up again, "First you yell at me, and then you try to blame me for something I didn't do?" More tears fell and she pointed at him and yelled, "You're a meanie!"

Trent added, "Seriously, man, that wasn't cool. She's just a little kid. She wasn't doing anything wrong."

Chris slapped his forehead at Trent's obliviousness. "Dude, your sister is an evil brat!"

The musician looked like he was about to punch him in the face, but simply turned around and stormed away, with Grace still in his arms. The cameraman, who had recorded the whole thing, followed them. Her plan had worked. The little girl propped her head on Trent's shoulder so she could look at the shrinking sadist. Making sure that Trent couldn't see her, she stuck her tongue out at him, mockingly.

The host stood in shock at what just happened. A three year old girl had outsmarted him and made him look like a jerk and a fool on TV.

"She. Is. Good."

* * *

Snap, Grace is good (in a bad way). :O Next chapter is the dramatic bonfire ceremony, where the First Four will leave the island. Who's going home? Will Courtney and Cody survive the bear attack? What will Grace be up to next chapter? Does Trent even realize that he left his and Grace's stuff back at Chris' secret hiding place? Find out in the next chapter of **Total Sibling Rivalry!**


	7. Day 1, Part 7: The First Goodbyes

Rawr. Sorry for the lateness. Busy with stuff.

So anyways, this is the first dramatic bonfire ceremony. *waves fingers mysteriously* Oooooh!

PS, there's a TSR poll in my profile. I'd love it if you'd vote in it, tell me what you think. :D

Read, review, and enjoy! :D

* * *

After making Chef rewire the TVs, Chris walked back to the campfire pit to see who had completed the challenge. DJ and Jamal, Bridgette and Keith, Gwen and Zack, and Owen and Candace were all back on time with their luggage. Cody and Courtney, who both had several large bandages covering their bear-related wounds, were there as well. Heather had untied herself from her annoying brother a while ago, since she wasn't able to handle being tied to him. Trent and Grace had also failed the challenge, as you all remember. The families with three siblings had already completed the challenge and were hanging out by the campfire pit with the others. That only left Rikki and Jackson, wherever they were…

Selena looked around, like she was trying to find something. "Hey, where are the interns?"

Zack looked up from his game and at her. "I dunno. Why?"

"Well, it's just that they've been gone for a while. Where'd they go off?"

"Beats me." He shrugged and went back to his game.

She shrugged as well and went to find Marilee, who was shooting dirty looks at Keith. Marilee was still ticked at him for looking at her boobs, and she was determined to make sure that he was one of the first ones going home. She stuck her tongue out at Keith as he skated by and winked at her. Selena couldn't help but smirk. "She likes him."

*T*S*R*

Meanwhile, at the secret production campground, the four intern girls were inside a large lounge, complete with flat-screen TV, hot tub, and built-in spa.

Mia was laying on a massage table, wearing only a towel. Her face was covered in green goop and there was a cucumber slice on each one of her eyes. She was smiling for the first time since she arrived at the island, probably because her back was being massaged by a very tan and muscular man. She let out a relaxed sigh as the masseuse's hands traveled further down her back.

On the other side of the lounge, Marina and Tamyra were bowling on the Wii. Holly was sitting on the couch near them, reading Twilight again.

* * *

"Yeah, " Chris looked into the camera and shrugged. "I figured it would be nice if I gave the interns better treatment this year… Okay, my boss said I **had** to, but still…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Back at the Dock of Shame, Jackson was still talking to Rikki, who was now tied to him. After listening to him talk a while, she actually started answering some of his questions.

* * *

Jackson looked into the Confession Can camera, looking quite satisfied. "I was finally able to break through to Rikki. It turns out that she was in an abusive relationship a few years ago and it affected her psychologically. Her boyfriend made it feel like his actions were her fault, thus making her depressed, even after Riley died in a car accident. The negative feelings stayed because she had never told anybody else about how she was abused, not even her parents or brother. See? All she needed was someone to talk to. And someone to make her talk."

* * *

The newly formed duo were snapped out of their conversation when they heard a loud beeping, signifying that it was 6 PM and that the challenge was over. Courtney and Cody had surely gotten their stuff, so they only had to worry about getting there on time. "Come on, we'd better get to the campfire pit. The ceremony's going to start any minute." Jackson untied them and started walking.

He thought Rikki was following him, until he heard a faint, "Jackson?"

He turned around, revealing that she was still in the same spot she was in a while ago. "Yes, Rikki?"

Her cold expression she had when she first arrived had been melted. She still didn't look happy, but at least she looked slightly better. She walked up to him and gave him a quick hug, departing from him almost as soon as she came toward him. Locking his dark brown eyes with her ebony orbs, she whispered, "Thank you."

Jackson only smiled in return and they both started walking toward the campfire pit together.

*T*S*R*

Nighttime darkness had finally arrived. The campfire was lit and the campers were gathered around it, waiting for the moment of truth. Some of them were extremely nervous, since those same people hadn't completed the challenge, like Heather and Damien. However, some were confident, since they had completed theirs with flying colors, like DJ and Jamal.

Chris arrived again, with a large silver platter, holding exactly twenty four marshmallows on it. Looking at the campers before him, Chris said, "Now that you all have cast your votes, it's time for the first dramatic bonfire ceremony. Twenty four campers will be safe, but four will be outta here. Here's how this will work: I'll call out the names of the twenty campers who didn't receive any votes first. Eight of you got at least one vote. I'll call out the names of the four out of those eight who are safe. The four who don't get called at all will walk down the Dock of Shame and take a ride on the Boat of Losers!" The host saw more nervous glances as he reached for the first marshmallow. He held it out in front of him and said, "Geoff."

The party boy grinned and let out a "Yeah!" and ran up to Chris, proud to receive the very first marshmallow of the season.

Chris waited for Geoff to sit down and then said, "Owen."

"Awesome!" He grabbed his marshmallow, shoving it in his mouth as soon as he sat down.

"…Selena." Selena, who had been kicking at some dirt with her boot, looked up and grinned. She jumped up and grabbed her marshmallow.

As much as he hated it, the next names he said were, "Grace and Trent." Chris tossed her marshmallow to both of them, since they were in the front, and she smirked at him triumphantly.

"… Zack." Zack knuckle-touched Keith and claimed his marshmallow.

"Candace." Candace let out a small shriek and ran up to receive her marshmallow, skipping back to her seat after she got it.

"Izzy, Herbie and Xavier." He tossed all three of them their marshmallows, since they were in the front row, as well.

"DJ and Jamal." The duo got up and received their marshmallows.

"Bridgette." She looked back at Geoff, relieved that both of them were safe and got her marshmallow.

"Duncan." Looking as if he didn't care either way, he got up and snatched his invincibility.

"Courtney." Duncan, who was still walking toward his seat, smirked at Courtney as she got up, who blushed in return.

"Marilee." The blonde proudly walked toward Chris and claimed her marshmallow, looking like she had already seen her victory coming.

"Duke." Marilee sneered, hearing her eldest brother's name being called, meaning that she'd have to deal with him for several more days.

"Cody." The techno geek high-fived Owen and got up to claim his marshmallow.

"Jovie and LeShawna." The sisters high-fived each other and claimed their marshmallows.

The eight remaining campers looked at each other, fear in their eyes. They knew only half of them would stay in the game. The question was: Who?

* * *

"Well," Grace crossed her arms and glared into the camera. "I had to get rid of Gwen! She'll probably distract Trent during the competition and… and…" Unable to think of a better reason, she screamed, " I HATE HER!"

* * *

"Jackson would have been able to complete the challenge with me if Cody's depressing sister wasn't here to distract him." Courtney crossed her arms over her chest, looking angrily into the Confession Can camera. "Nothing personal, Rikki… Okay, it's a little personal. I just don't think you'd make the best teammate."

* * *

"Damien's a meanie." Zoey looked like she was about to cry, but still kept her composure. "He pulled my hair and held me down and burped in my face! And he said he was gonna vote me off! So that's why I'm voting him off!"

* * *

Izzy looked into the camera, dead-serious. "That Damien kid is a total psycho."

* * *

"I voted Keith off." This, no surprise, came from Marilee. "That perv had the nerve to look at my boobs! Nobody looks at Marilee Anderson like that and gets away with it. **No one!**"

* * *

DJ looked into the camera, almost indecisive. "Okay, Jamal may be a jerk, but he's a strong jerk. Can't vote him off, so I voted for Raven. Sorry, girl."

* * *

"I had to vote off Princess' lame brother." It's probably obvious who this came from. "He's a total weakling and he keeps trying to 'psychoanalyze' me, whatever **that** means…"

* * *

"As much I'd love to see Grace the Demon leave the island," Gwen said as she glared at the camera, "I had to vote off Heather. There's no way I can risk her repeating what she did last year."

* * *

"I was originally going to vote off Heather…" Bridgette looked down at the floor of the Confession Can angrily and continued, "But that was before Heather's bratty little brother scribbled all over my surfboard with a permanent marker! I don't get angry easily, but when you mess with my board, you're going down!"

* * *

"I voted off Rikki." Geoff looked guiltily to the side. "She just seems like kind of a downer…"

* * *

"Campers… there are eight left of you, but only four marshmallows." He motioned to the platter and continued, "The next camper to get a marshmallow is… Keith."

Keith ran up to claim his marshmallow and turned around to walk back, grinning all the way there. Even after somebody threw a marshmallow at him and hit him square in the forehead. He sat down, now smirking. "Nice aim, Marilee." He got a frustrated groan in response, coming from Marilee herself.

Chris held the next marshmallow high above his head, dramatically pausing. After a moment of silent anticipation, he finally called out, "Zoey."

The little girl giggled with excitement as she caught the marshmallow Chris tossed at her.

"… Gwen."

Relieved, the Goth stood up and claimed her marshmallow, sitting down next to Trent and giving him a quick peck on the cheek. Grace glared at her as she did, a deadly look in her eyes.

Chris turned toward Heather, Rikki, Jackson, Damien and Raven. Damien and Raven looked like they couldn't care less, but the others looked extremely nervous. Even Rikki looked a little nervous. The host held the final bit of fluffy immunity and said, "Campers, this is the final marshmallow for the night. Only one of you get to stay."

He held it high over his head and set the platter down. He pointed to each of the campers one by one, as if he didn't already know who was going to get it and trying to decide. After two minutes of that, Heather yelled, "Out with it already, Chris! The audience doesn't need **this** much suspense!"

"Okay, okay, yeesh!" Chris lowered the marshmallow and proclaimed, 'The final marshmallow for the night goes to… Heather." He tossed her her marshmallow and she sighed in relief.

"Damien, Jackson, Raven and Rikki. Can't say I'm surprised. You guys are kinda useless." He pointed to the dock and said, "The Dock of Shame awaits!"

The four losers got up, slowly trudging to the dock, except for Damien, who ran full-charge. As soon as they boarded the boat, it noisily sped away.

"Okay," Chris turned to the remaining twenty four campers, "It's time to assign teams and cabins. The Calivers, Colemans, DiCaprios, Delaneys, Courtney Mann, Heather Fujimoto, and Cody Erikson, come over here."

Duncan, Selena, Zoey, Owen, Candace, Trent, Grace, Gwen, Zack, Courtney, Heather and Cody walked over to Chris. He tossed a flag to Zack, who unraveled it, revealing a picture of a bear with its paws held menacingly high above its head. "You will now be known as the Killer Bears!"

"What?" Gwen looked at him like he wasn't being serious. "All you did was replace 'bass' with 'bears'!"

Chris just ignored her and said, "You'll be staying in the old Gopher cabin. Girls on the right, guys on the left. Grab your stuff and get unpacked. You all need your rest for tomorrow."

The Bears didn't say anything, but just grabbed their items and walked toward their cabin, too tired to complain.

"Jeffersons, Joneses, Andersons, Carlisles, and O'Callaghans. You're up."

DJ, Jamal, LeShawna, Jovie, Geoff, Duke, Marilee, Bridgette, Keith, Izzy, Herbie and Xavier walked up to Chris. He tossed a new flag to Jamal, who unraveled it. Instead of a bear on this one, there was a wolf. It appeared that there was something coming out of the wolf's mouth, like foam. "You are now the Rabid Wolves."

"Well," Duke looked down at his little sister and continued, 'We do have an insane girl right here."

Marilee glared up at him, jabbing him in the gut with her elbow. He winced a little, but tried not to show that a girl seven years younger than him had bruised his belly.

Looking at the wolf, Izzy exclaimed, "Cool! I saw a rabid wolf once! It was running down our street and it was all like, 'RAWR, I'M A SCARY WOLF! I'M GONNA GETCHA!'" She started laughing, while the others exchanged nervous looks with each other. After getting over her giggle fit, she said, "But it turns out it was just my neighbor's dog who got into a can of whipped cream."

"Um… okay then." Chris pointed to the old Bass cabin and said, "You'll be staying in the other cabin. Girls on the right, guys on the left. Let's move."

With a few tired mumbles, they got their stuff and headed to their cabin. It was going to be a long day tomorrow.

*T*S*R*

On the Boat of Losers, Raven and Damien were keeping themselves occupied with whatever it was they were doing. Rikki and Jackson were standing next to each other, looking back at the island that was slowly drifting out of their sights.

Jackson took a look at Rikki out of the corner of his eye. He could tell that she had really changed since she arrived at the island just a few hours before.

After minutes of working up the courage to do it, he lifted his arm and slowly wrapped it around her shoulder. He waited for her to try and wriggle away from his grasp, but she didn't do anything. But looking at her again, he saw her doing something she hadn't done in years.

She was smiling.

* * *

Aww, the first four campers leave the island. Shootski. : ( Oh well. Chris will take weekly _visits to the Playa de Losers to get an update on how the voted-off campers. Yay. :D_


	8. Day 2, Part 1: Sibling Swap

Hiya. Decided to do this challenge in a three part thing, so you all don't have to wait as long. :D Might do that for all of the challenges…

Anyway, I'd just like to thank everybody who has reviewed so far. You guys are the sticky to my buns.

Wow, that sounded really wrong, now that I said it.

It was brought to my attention by b3lla (Thanks a lot for all the reviews, by the way! They've been really helpful!) that I haven't been describing some of the characters as much as I could. I tackled a few of the characters' physical descriptions in this chapter, especially Selena and Marilee, but that's probably because they're two of my top three favorite sisters ((Grace is in first place… XD)) I'll get to the others in the next few chapters. I only described half of Selena's personality, though. Don't jump to conclusions about her, I'll describe her more in the next chappie.

Anyway, this challenge sort of makes the original TDI campers interact more with the new siblings. I've been looking forward to write for this challenge forever. Ever since I first created Selena, I knew that she'd get along well with Trent…

Oops. I might have given too much away.

You all know who belongs to who. You all know that I want you to read, review and enjoy. Don't feel like repeating myself.

* * *

Using her hand as a makeshift comb to tame her pink-tipped blonde hair, Selena grabbed her guitar case and swung the screen door of the girl side of the Bear cabin. Cursing under her breath as it squeaked loudly, luckily not waking up any of the other girls who were still happily tucked into their bunks, Selena quietly speed-walked onto the porch, down the wooden stairs and toward the lake to work on her chords.

For as long as she could remember, Selena Caliver had always been a morning person. She just couldn't stay in bed after six thirty in the morning, no matter how little sleep she had gotten the night before. Duncan was used to the early wake-up in Juvy and usually woke her up with whatever shenanigans he was up to when he was home. He was probably wandering around camp, too.

She liked waking up early, anyway. It gave her time to do the stuff she could never finish if she just slept her day away, like practice her guitar. She needed all the practice she could get on that thing.

On her way to the lake, Selena looked down at her outfit. She had on her usual black tank top layered under her off the shoulder pink top. Instead of her also usual tight biker shorts, jean mini skirt, and black combat boots, she decided to pull on a pair of dark blue skinny leg jeans and slip on some bright pink Chucks. It was the perfect outfit for trying to get her stupid guitar to play a decent tune.

Selena set her guitar case on the ground and climbed onto a large boulder, looking at the sunrise and her surroundings. The island hadn't changed one bit, except the washrooms had been expanded a little more to hold more showers and bathroom stalls for the extra campers. She had temporarily forgotten about her faulty instrument, just thinking about stuff. Somehow, the subject of the other campers had gotten on her mind.

_Most of the original guys haven't changed that much. The old couples are still going strong, as far as I could tell. I wish I had a boyfriend… Gwen's hair is a little bit longer. It's mid back now. I like it better that way. And Courtney's uptight butt has loosened up a bit. Maybe she'll be less of a killjoy this season. The only one that's drastically changed is Heather. I'll bet my entire collection of Jonas Brothers CDs that that's all just an act…_

Selena pulled the case up onto her lap, remembering why she was there in the first place. However, she didn't take the guitar out. She just kept thinking with her chin in her palm, this time about the new guys. _Candace seems nice, but she sorta needs to tone the spunk down before somebody decides to kill her. I heard Jovie talking to DJ about some animal fur protest she was part of last summer, so I'm guessing she's one of those activists. She seems pretty nice, too. Grace is flat-out evil. 'nuff said. Marilee's pretty harsh to Duke, but I guess I would be, too. He's not exactly the nicest guy. She's still kinda mean to Geoff, though, and he's nothing but nice to everybody, including her! Well, he doesn't seem to mind, so I guess it's not that big of a deal to him. Marilee can be really nice, though, if she likes you. I'm just glad that she likes me. _

She finally unclasped the guitar case, but didn't bother opening it. _Keith is cool, too. It's funny how he flirts with Marilee, even though she hates him now… But Zack is so awesome. I have a lot of guy friends, but he is by far the coolest one of mine. _She smiled, thinking about him. _He's so nice, and he doesn't reek of Axe, like Patrick does. Pat's been my bud since 5th grade, but he seriously needs to stop bathing in the stuff… Crap, I'm getting off topic. On top of all that, Zack's smart, funny, cute-_

_Oh no. Why did I have to say cute?_

Shaking those crushy thoughts out of her head, Selena finally opened her guitar case. But she didn't take it out. She stared at it, a cold sweat starting to creep onto her forehead.

It was a really nice guitar.

Too bad it wasn't her's.

*T*S*R*

Later that day, Trent walked over to LeShawna and Gwen, who were sitting on a picnic table near the Bear cabin. The handle of a guitar case was clutched in his hand. As he sat down with them, Gwen gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Hey, guys. What's up?"

"Not much, hon," LeShawna responded, "Just chillin'."

Seeing the guitar case in Trent's hand, Gwen grinned and asked, "Are you going to play for us? I haven't heard you play in a while."

The musician set the case down on the table and smiled. "Of course, babe." Without looking, he opened the case, pulled the guitar out and held it in his normal playing pose. For some reason, though, Gwen and LeShawna burst out laughing. Trent cocked an eyebrow, thinking they had gone insane. "What's so funny?"

After calming down a little, Gwen wiped a tear away with her finger and managed to say, "Oh, nothing… It's just that you've changed a lot since last year…"

"Yeah," LeShawna exclaimed, "I didn't know you was a fan of the Jonas Brothers!" The girls burst out laughing again.

Trent, totally confused, looked down at his guitar.

It was pink.

And had several Jonas Brothers stickers on it.

It was pretty obvious that that wasn't his guitar.

*T*S*R*

Trent asked around camp all morning, but all of the people he asked claimed that it wasn't their guitar. Though, of course, he had only asked girls. He doubted that any self-respecting dude would have a pink guitar littered with Jonas Brothers stickers. He'd ask around some more during lunch.

*T*S*R*

Near the beach, Selena had somehow managed to find a shovel and was digging a guitar-shaped hole to bury Trent's instrument in. She had dug the hole as deep as her waist when Duncan showed up. Hearing him approaching, Selena turned to face him, said, "Hi, Duncan." and turned back around and continued digging.

After moments of Duncan trying to figure out the scene before him, he finally just asked her, "What the heck are you doing?"

Sticking her shovel in some sand, she wiped the sweat off her brow and said, "I accidentally grabbed Trent's guitar instead of mine. I don't want him to think I stole it, so I'm getting rid of the evidence."

Sitting down, Duncan said, "You know, Trent isn't exactly the most accusing guy. He'll probably understand."

Pulling herself out of the ditch and sitting next to him, Selena said, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll tell him sometime during lunch."

The delinquent got up, pulling his sister with him. Looking down at her hole, Duncan shook his head disappointedly. "How many times do I have to tell you not to get rid of the evidence until it's **guaranteed **that you'll get in trouble?"

The pink lover looked down at her feet, slightly ashamed. "Sorry, Duncan…"

Duncan patted her on the shoulder, saying, "Just as long as you learned your lesson." With that, he left her to refill her hole and get ready for lunch.

*T*S*R*

Later at the mess hall, everybody was poking and prodding their food, trying to identify the items that Chef had thrown onto their trays, especially the Wolves, who had two vegetarians. "Is it broccoli?" Jovie poked the unidentifiable vegetable, fruit, or meat with her finger, making it jiggle like Jell-o.

"Um…" Bridgette stabbed the 'food' with her fork and inspected it. "I don't think broccoli's supposed to be blue…"

Duke sighed and looked down at the dirty wood table, chugging down his third beer of the day.

Marilee glared at her brother, who was sitting across from her, and asked, "What's up with you, Boozy?"

Duke didn't look up at her. He accidentally spilled some Budweiser on his 'Keg Me' t-shirt and slurred, "I mizz Raben."

The fashionista rolled her eyes and said, "You dated the girl for nine hours. You **knew** the girl for nine hours."

"Luv idn't meazured in hours. Iz meazured in bases… We gotted all duh way to-"

"Ew!" Marilee half-screamed, covering her ears. "I don't want to hear about your wacked-out love life, freak!"

Meanwhile, at the Bears table, Selena had just finished her food and got up to return her tray. She wasn't really that picky of an eater, so she didn't mind having no idea what her meal was. She was the second one finished, after Owen. On her way back to her seat, she was going to tell Trent abut his guitar, but was interrupted by the blow of fog horn, making her flinch and run back to her seat, which was on the opposite end of the table than Trent.

Chris set the fog horn down, grinning his trademark grin. "Enjoying your lunches?"

Gwen glared at her plate of… blue stuff… as it slightly twitched. "I'd enjoy it more if it was dead."

"Great!" Gwen grimaced at him, but he ignored it and continued, "Are you all ready for your first official challenge?"

"…No."

"Not really."

"I wanna go home."

"Awesome!" Chris once again ignored the glares and said, " Don't worry, people. This one's gonna be easy. It's something you've all been going through pretty much your entire lives."

"In Duke's case, it must be bed-wetting…" Marilee mumbled, causing some of her teammates to laugh. Duke didn't hear her comment. He was too busy opening his fourth beer and trying not to throw up.

"Your first challenge is the… **Sibling Swap**!" The campers looked around at each other, confused.

"What's that supposed to be?" Zoey asked.

"It's pretty easy. Each camper will be paired up with somebody they aren't already related to. The person you are paired with is your 'sibling.' You and your new brother or sister will do various things that normal siblings go through everyday," Chris explained. "Sound simple enough? Probably, yeah. But it sure will cause some drama!" The group looked more comfortable with the upcoming challenge and Chris continued, "Chef and I have already paired you up with the person that we think would… make the best TV." Chris paused and grinned for a second. "Now finish your… chow and meet me at the campfire pit in five!" With that, the host walked out of the mess hall.

Owen and Selena, having nothing better to do since they were done with their meals, went to join Chris at the campfire pit. Since everybody who hadn't eaten their food already decided that it was inedible, they threw their food away and walked out, too. Might as well get the challenge over with.

*T*S*R*

"Okay," Chris looked at the twenty four contestants sitting before him and continued, "You all know the challenge. Now it's time to partner you guys up. And remember, you have to be with your sibling at all times until the challenge is over… except if you have to pee. You can go to the washrooms by yourself, then. Okay, back to business. When I call your names, come up by me and stand with your new brother or sister. First up is… DJ and Jovie."

* * *

"DJ's cool," Jovie said, triumphantly grinning. "He cares 'bout the environment, like me and he's an all around nice guy. We've talked before and we're kind of friends. This thang's in the bag!"

* * *

"Heather and Herbie." Heather looked down nervously at the little red head. He was currently tugging at one of the straps of his denim overalls, as if pulling it was going to do something exciting. Anybody related to Izzy must be certifiably insane… and lethal… Heather thought quietly to herself as she walked up to Chris with the carrot top. Gwen had almost laughed at Heather getting stuck with one of the psycho hose beast's little brothers, but then Chris called out, "Gwen and Xavier," crushing Gwen's joy. "Bridgette and Zack."

* * *

"Zack seems nice." Bridgette grinned at the camera and added, "And he's Gwen's little brother, so he must be cool."

* * *

"Courtney and Jamal." The CIT looked at Jamal. He was already up front, looking at his own flexed muscles. He wasn't at all like her brother. Jackson was scrawny; Jamal could lift an elephant. Jackson wore more casual clothes; Jamal wore a tight muscle tee and work out shorts. Jackson wasn't a total jerk; Jamal was. She was not looking forward to the challenge. Sighing, she got up and stood next to him as he kissed his left bicep. Next, Chris called out, "Owen and Zoey."

* * *

Zoey straightened her pink skirt, giggled and said, "Owen seems like a lot of fun! He farts a lot, but he's still awesome!"

* * *

"Cody and Grace." Cody walked up and Grace followed, silently growling. However, Cody didn't notice. "Duke and LeShawna."

* * *

"Oh, great!" LeShawna yelled, throwing her arms in the air. "I get stuck with my sista's drunk white-as-mayonnaise boyfriend!"

* * *

Chris grinned as he said the next set of names, knowing how their challenges would end up. "Duncan and Marilee." The two 'siblings' glared at each other, trying to see if looks really could kill. They had already taken a disliking to each other since they first arrived on the island. He was the last person she wanted to spend the entire day with, and the same went for him. However, neither of them wanted to lose, so they walked up to Chris and stood together, shooting dirty looks at each other as they did. "Trent and Selena."

Good, Selena thought as she walked up with Trent. This gives me the perfect opportunity to return his guitar.

"Geoff and Candace." The two, being two of the happiest people on the island, grinned at each other and ran up front.

"And last, but not least… Izzy and Keith!" Keith cringed, being paired up with the crazy girl that already had a boyfriend.

"This is so awesome! I have another brother!" Izzy ran up to Keith, giving him a big bear hug. "We can do all kinds of stuff, like juggle raccoons, have a pinecone-eating contest and- oh! And you can drive the getaway car when we-"

"Just shut up and bring your new perverted brother up here!" Marilee shouted, sick of hearing her blither on. Izzy let go of Keith and the two walked up to Chris with the rest of the campers.

"Now that you all have your new siblings," Chris said, "You all can spend the next hour getting to know each other while the interns set up the challenges. McClean out!" Chris waked away and the new families went their separate ways with each other.

*T*S*R*

Marilee groaned, eyeing Duncan as they walked to nowhere in general. "It's just my luck that I get partnered up with the trouble-making fashion disaster."

Duncan rolled his eyes and replied, "This coming from the girl who looks like a walking black eye…"

The blonde stopped in her tracks, looking down at her outfit. She had on her usual purple sweater dress, black leggings and black and purple platforms. Maybe she did look like a bruised eye, but she still looked good… She started walking again and spat, "What would you know about fashion, Caliver? Newsflash; fauxhawks are soooo tacky."

"Umm, breaking news," Duncan said, trying to mimic the slight valley-girl tone she had used while saying that last sentence, "You look like you put the back of your head in a blender, which is, like, even tackier," referring to how short her hair was in the back and how much longer it was in the front.

Marilee growled and punched him hardly in the arm. Duncan frowned, returning the punch.

She gasped, held the spot on her arm that he hit and screeched, "You can't hit me! I'm a girl!"

The delinquent smirked and faintly said, "Coulda fooled me…"

That earned him a kick in the crotch.

*T*S*R*

Owen was walking toward the Bears cabin, Zoey sitting on his very large shoulder, playing with a stray thread on the sleeve of her purple long-sleeved tee. "Where we goin', Owen?" Thinking for a second, Zoey giggled and added, "Hey, that rhymes! Goin' Owen, goin' Owen, goin' Owen…"

Owen chuckled and replied, "Since you're my new little sis, I'm gonna show you my secret stash. The only other people I trust with knowing where it is are Candace and Izzy."

"Oh, cool!" Zoey exclaimed. "What's in there?"

"All kinds of things!" Owen started counting on his fingers as he listed the food items he had hidden, "There's cookies, candy bars, cheesy pretzels, Fudgy Boos, gummi worms, cho-"

Zoey interrupted by yelling, "Well, what are we waiting for? START RUNNING!"

Owen followed her orders, running toward the cabin as fast as his chubby legs could go.

*T*S*R*

"Trent," Selena started, making Trent focus on her as they walked up the stairs of their cabin. "I think I have something that belongs to you… Wait here."

"Okay." Trent did what he was told, leaning against the railing of the porch while she dashed into her side of the cabin. She came back out the door a second later, carrying the guitar she had previously tried to bury.

Seeing his guitar, he grinned, taking it from Selena. "Hey, thanks! I've been wondering where this went."

Rubbing the back of her head sheepishly, she said, "Yeah, sorry for taking it. I must have grabbed it by accident last night. I thought it was mine."

Trent, seeing how much pink she was wearing, asked, "Um… would your guitar be pink, by any chance? Lots of Jonas Brothers stickers on it?"

"Yeah…"

"I'll be right back." Trent walked into his side of the cabin, leaving Selena to wait and twirl a strand of hair patiently. He came back after a few seconds, his guitar in one hand, hers in the other. She grinned as soon as she saw her guitar and he held it out to her. "As pretty as this guitar is, I'm gonna have to give it back to you…"

The blonde laughed, carefully grabbing the guitar. "Guess we both grabbed the wrong cases. Might as well have just lost mine, though…"

He looked at her questioningly and asked, "What do you mean?"

"I can't play it right. I think it's broken. Listen." Selena tried to play a chord, but it came out at a horrible noise.

Trent cringed a little, setting his guitar on the floor. "Let me see it…" She handed him the instrument, hoping he'd figure out if there was something wrong with it or not. After inspecting a few of the strings, he looked up and he and said, "Well, no wonder your guitar doesn't sound right. These strings are too loose." He turned the knobs at the top and strummed the newly-tightened strings. They all sounded perfect.

Taking it back, Selena grinned, embarrassed at her stupidity. "Thanks. I just started playing a few weeks ago. I still don't know the ropes…"

"No problem. I've been playing since I was eight, so I know what's wrong with a guitar just by listening to it."

"Well, at least you knew what was wrong with it. Unlike this lame teach-yourself-guitar book…" Out of nowhere, Selena pulled out a music book.

Trent traded her the guitar for the book and flipped through the pages. He figured out what was wrong with the book, but didn't know how to put it. He was silent for a minute, but eventually said, "Selena… this is a book that teaches you to play the _violin_…"

"What?" Grabbing the book back and flipping through some more pages with only one hand, Selena felt even stupider. "Oh. No wonder it kept talking about some stupid bow…"

Trent couldn't help but smile a little. She could be a little spacey, but she was really nice. "I could teach you a few things, if you want. Your violin skills are probably good, now, but your guitar skills might need work…"

Selena giggled, clutching the neck of her guitar. "That'd be awesome!" Selena walked into the girls side of the Bear cabin with Trent, tossing the book into a nearby bush.

*T*S*R*

At the amphitheater, Marina was plugging several televisions and video game consoles into a large extension cord, looking like she would have rather gnawed her own hand off. Chris, who had just walked into the amphitheater, saw her face and asked, "What's up with you?"

"Chris," Marina cautiously asked, "Do we have to waste so much electricity with this challenge? Couldn't they do something else?"

"Oh, gee," Chris tapped his chin, as if he was actually giving the idea some thought. "Let me think about it… Uh… no." He walked away, leaving the environmentalist alone with the many plugs she had to plug.

*T*S*R*

Cody and Grace strolled along, Cody leading the two. Grace just followed him, scowling at the back of his head.

* * *

"I'm pretty excited about this challenge," Cody coolly said, "I've always wanted to be oldest. And I've always wanted a sister that wasn't insane. Trent said nothing but nice things about Grace last year, so I'm sure this'll be easy!"

* * *

Grace turned around, making sure that nobody was following them. She saw a squirrel, but no Trent, which was all that mattered to her. Grabbing a broken-off, sturdy tree branch, she gave Cody a quick blow to the back of the knee, causing him to fall and clutch the injured joint. "Ow!" Cody yelled, "What was that for?"

Grace grabbed a clump of his hair, forced him to look her in the eye, and gnarled, "You're the main reason Trent and Gwen started dating, that's what that was for!"

Flinching at how hard she pulled his hair, Cody asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Does 'Up The Creek' ring a bell?"

Cody took a second to think. He finally realized what she was talking about, but before he could answer, she pulled him closer to him until their noses were practically touching, hatred flaming in her dark brown eyes. "That was the episode where you tried hitting on Gwen. I had been hoping that you'd start dating her, so Trent couldn't, but then you had to wimp out and hook. Them. Up." Grace said the last three words slowly, her voice dripping in anger.

"Um…" Cody cringed nervously, not sure what to say that wouldn't earn him a black eye. "I still don't see why you're-"

"I'm mad," the little demon interrupted, "Because you could have kept that freak away from my brother, but you just HAD to be a wuss and do the exact opposite!"

"I was just trying to make them both happy!"

"Well, guess what?" She flipped him over, pinned his arms against his back and jumped onto him, making him gag a little bit. "You made me very UNhappy." Grace leaned forward, so she could harshly whisper in his ear, "And let me tell you this, buddy: you won't like me when I'm unhappy…"

* * *

Le gasp! Are Duncan and Marilee going to make through the challenge? Will Owen and Zoey be too full to do anything? Will Grace beat the crap out of Cody before the challenge even starts? Find out the answers to all these exciting cliffhangers and more in Sibling Swap, Part 2, on **TOTAL SIBLING RIVALRY!**


	9. Day 2, Part 2: Sorry, No Returns

Ug. This bad boy's over **6000 WORDS LONG. ***faints* It wouldn't even be finished this early if school hadn't been cancelled every day this week. *victory dance* But, overall, this was really, really fun to write. :3 Sorry about the lack of interns, guys. I'm trying to squeeze them in, I really am. They just didn't fit anywhere in this chappie. D:

If you don't know what belongs to who by now, you must suffer from short term memory loss. So just read, review, and enjoy!

* * *

For the first half hour, Trent had taught Selena a thing or two that her 'guitar' book never could have. After a while, though, the two just started talking about general stuff. Selena had gotten the two some grape sodas, claiming she had snagged them from Owen's not so secret stash.

"So what's it like having Duncan for a brother?" Trent asked, setting his guitar down and opening his pop. "Are there always a bunch of cops at your house?"

"There are when we have family parties." Selena took a quick sip of her soda and shrugged. "But what do you expect when you come from a family of cops? Duncan's actually a pretty cool guy. And he's not as tough as he lets on." She looked around, making sure nobody was near them, and whispered, "The dude cries whenever he watches ET…"

The musician choked on his beverage slightly and stared at her in disbelief. "Are you serious?" He let out a little laugh, now that his vocal cords were free of grape soda.

"Yeah," the blonde replied, giggling. But after her little giggle fest, her facial expression looked more serious. "But don't tell anyone. If Duncan finds out that I told you about that…" She shuddered, unable to even say what tormenting punishment her brother would have for her. "What about Grace?" Apparently, Trent was the only person in the universe who didn't know that she was the spawn of the devil, so she was curious as to what he thought of her.

Trent put his guitar down, smiling. "She's such a good girl. I don't think I could have asked for a sweeter little sister."

Selena managed to stifle her laughter.

*T*S*R*

"So," Geoff started, dangling his legs over the edge of the dock. He and Candace couldn't decide what to do, so Geoff had changed into his trunks and Candace into her pink one piece, though neither of them had really wanted to go swimming at the moment. "Whaddya wanna do, bra?"

The strawberry blonde took a second to think. When she was done, an even bigger grin crept onto her face. There was something about that smile. Like she was up to something. "I know something we can do…"

Geoff noticed the suspicious grin and cautiously asked, "What?"

"This!" Candace grabbed the party boy by his shoulders, pushing him into the murky water. She laughed, clutching her sides, waiting for Geoff to pop up. Her laugh faltered after moments of no response. "Um… Geoff?" Her smile faded, but hadn't completely disappeared. "C'mon up, Geoffy." A flew air bubbles rose up, most likely belonging to Geoff. Her smile now seemed forced. "This SO isn't funny anymore, dude…"

Just when she was about to leave and get help, a pair of hands splashed up from the water and grabbed Candace by her ankles. She let out a shriek as she was dragged underwater, flailing her arms, to keep her from drowning. After resurfacing, Candace frantically looked around, trying to find out who attacked her. The attacker resurfaced, revealing himself to be Geoff. He was laughing his head off, trying to catch his breath. "Oh, you should've seen your face, bra! You were all like, 'EEEEP, SAVE ME!'" Geoff tried to impersonate her scared expression, but it caused him to start laughing again.

Candace started giggling, giving the soggy party boy a splash. "You jerk, I thought you were drowning!" Geoff didn't answer, but continued to laugh, giving the cheerleader an even bigger splash. That was when the splash fight officially started.

Izzy and Keith just so happened to walk by, seeing the two and their water duel. Izzy started laughing, seeing the sight before her eyes. "Wow! And I thought **I **was crazy…"

*T*S*R*

Gwen looked down at the second little red head in front of her, wondering what would happen to her. "So… Is there anything you want to do?"

"I wanna play Horsey!" Xavier yelled, trying to climb on Gwen's back.

She, however, pushed him off. "There's no way I'm doing that." She turned her back for just a second, trying to straighten the black and blue skirt that Xavier had messed up. She got a big shock when Xavier jumped on her back and screamed, "GIDDY UP!"

Gwen screamed and violently shook herself, trying to get him off, but his grip on her was strong. She started to run around, but to no avail. He was still there, yee-hawing and waving a pretend lasso above his head. Gwen continued to run around and scream, but was trying to think calming thoughts. _Look on the bright side, Gwen… At least Heather's just as miserable as you are…_

*T*S*R*

Heather sat on a boulder outside the washrooms, nervously wringing her hands. Herbie had to pee after Chris was done talking, so she was waiting for him to come out. She was actually hoping he would never come out.

--

"All of my hair just fully grew back a few weeks ago…" Heather mused, feeling her locks. "I don't want to lose it again in some freak accident involving Herbie and a flame thrower!"

--

Unfortunately, Herbie had come out of the washrooms. Heather sighed, getting up from the safety of her rock. "So… What do you want to do?"

"Um…" The little red head tapped his chin, thinking. "You wanna play hide and seek?"

Not exactly the response she was expecting. It sounded too… normal. But it was much better than some of the things she had been expecting him to suggest. "Um… Sure."

"I'll go hide and you can be It!" Herbie jumped up and down excitedly, grabbing Heather's hand and dragging her to a nearby tree. "Close your eyes and count to a hundred!"

She couldn't help but smile a little bit. "Okay then." She crossed her arms and placed them over the tree, using them to cover her eyes as she started to count. "One, two, three…" She could hear Herbie's feet shuffle away, and silently thanked God for letting Chris give her the normal one.

*T*S*R

Somehow, Selena and Trent had gotten a bowl of cheesy popcorn and were tossing pieces at each other, trying to get them in the other's mouth. "So… Trent DiCaprio, huh?" Selena jokingly asked.

Trent tossed a kernel at her, but it just hit her on the cheek. He sheepishly grinned and replied, "Yeah, I know what you're going to say. No, I'm not related to Leonardo…"

Selena laughed, tossing a piece of popcorn at Trent. "I'm just kidding, dude. It's a cool last name. Besides, Titanic is one of my favorite movies."

"Oh, ha ha. You're so funny." Trent dryly said as he caught the tossed corn in his mouth, but she could tell he was kidding.

"I know I am." She grinned, full of pride. Grabbing an entire handful of popcorn, she tossed it at Trent. Needless to say, none of the kernels landed in his mouth.

Wiping some of the powder cheese off of his shirt, Trent smirked deviously. "You know what else is funny?" He grabbed the entire bowl.

Selena's eyes widened. "Oh, no. You wouldn't."

"I would." Trent stood up and walked toward the door. He opened it and slowly stepped out. "I'm taking your popcorn and eating at all myself!" He ran out the door, clutching the bowl in his hands.

Selena smirked, got up and ran after him. "Oh no, you don't! Come back here!" Heck, she was gonna get him. Nobody steals Selena Caliver's cheesy popcorn and gets away with it.

*T*S*R*

Courtney grimaced as she watched Jamal flex, mainly just so he could admire himself. "Jamal, I think we should get to know each other, if we're going to be working together in this challenge."

"Huh?" Jamal took his eyes off his muscles and focused on her, but never turned his head. "Oh yeah, sure. Whatever you say." He focused on his bulging arm again, sat down on a stump and said, "You start."

"Well," Courtney sat down on a stump across from him, crossed one leg over the other and took a second to think of something to say. "I've been class president at my school eight years running, I used to be a CIT, I have experience as a…" She couldn't help but notice that Jamal was still looking at his own arms. "Jamal, would you stop looking at yourself and pay attention to me?! Your freakishly large muscles are going to look exactly the same in a few hours as they will now!"

"No can do, Princess." Jamal flexed in a different position.

Courtney's eyes narrowed. "What did you just call me?"

"Princess." He shrugged. "That Duncan guy calls you that all the time.

"Let me make something perfectly clear," Courtney hissed and grabbed the Jamaican-Canadian's dreadlocked ponytail, making him yelp slightly. She pulled him so that he was looking her in the eyes and cried, "I already have one self-absorbed, overly-cocky, tough guy jerk calling me that, and I don't need another. Got that?!"

Jamal gulped and squeaked, "G-gotcha…"

Courtney smirked. "Good." She released him, making him fall backwards. She stood up and started to walk away, but before she did, she was sure to add, "And besides, it's cute when he does it."

*T*S*R*

LeShawna glared at Duke as he chugged down yet another beer. "Boy, what's with all the beer? Your daddy own a brewery or something?"

Duke scoffed, "I wizz."

The sista glared at him. "You did what now?!"

"I sed, 'I wizsh.'" Duke tried to say it more clearly this time, since the alcohol was making him slur.

"Oh, you wish." LeShawna shook her head. "Maybe I'd be able to understand you if ya wasn't so drunk!"

"Shu up, mom," Duke slurred, slamming his fist on the table they were sitting at in the mess hall. "I do whaeva I wan!"

LeShawna stood up, clearly angry. "Don't you be getting' a 'tude with me, you drunk lil' white boy!"

"You'z duh one wid duh 'tude, thunduh thighs!" He laughed at his little joke, very shakily due to the many beers he had.

Since there was no one to hold her back, LeShawna yelled, "THAT'S IT!" and tackled him. The camera man turned the camera off after that. It was way too violent for any viewer to see.

*T*S*R*

"Herbie, where are you?" Heather had counted to a hundred and started searching for Herbie, but couldn't find him. The hour was almost up, but there was no sign of him. She was starting to worry. There's no telling what the uber crazy Izzy would do to her if she didn't find her brother… "It's time to go meet Chris now!" Heather stopped walking and tapped her foot impatiently. "C'mon, I give up! What do you want from me?!" She though for a second, but finally thought of something to lure him out. "Olly olly oxen free!"

Almost instantly, Herbie emerged from a bush and flung himself onto Heather's leg. "I won!"

The former queen bee let out a little laugh and Herbie grinned up at her, revealing the gap in his teeth.

--

"Wow," Heather sat in the Confession Can, shocked. "Who would have thought that somebody related to Izzy could be even slightly normal? He must just be weird when he's around her…"

--

"**Attention, siblings!**" The loudspeakers blared, due to Chris' yelling. "**The hour's up. Report to the amphitheater immediately!**" With that, all twenty four of them walked to the amphitheater, sitting in the stands next to their 'siblings'.

Trent and Selena, who was enjoying the bowl of cheesy popcorn she had gotten back from her fake brother, took a seat in the back and Cody and Grace joined them, with Cody sitting on Trent's right. The musician took a look at Cody and his eyes widened. The techno geek had several bloody scratches on his face, covered up with a few bandages. His lip was cut and a little bit puffy. Not to mention his eye, which was an interesting shade of purple. "Cody, dude, what happened to you?" Trent asked, looking concerned.

Cody nervously turned his head to look at Grace, wondering how she would react if he told Trent the truth. She growled silently enough so that Trent couldn't hear and she was staring daggers at Cody. "Um…" Maybe telling the truth would be a bad idea. If he told, Grace would be busted, but his rep would be ruined. Getting beaten up by a three year old? That was just sad! Cody looked around and mumbled, "I-I fell down the steps…"

Trent looked suspicious to whether he was lying or not, but shrugged and turned to face Chris, who had just walked on stage. "Enjoying yourselves?" Chris grinned and, before anybody could answer, said, "Awesome! Now let's get this challenge started." Chris turned to the four televisions behind him and continued, "The first challenge is a sibling favorite: playing games. Four groups will play a video game and the other eight will play a board, card, or some other type of game, since we were too cheap to get twelve TVs…" Chris smirked again and said, "The idea is to get through the game without fighting with each other. If you fight too much, you lose the round. Savvy? I knew you would be."

Chris jumped off the stage walking toward the contestants. "When I call your names, come up on stage and go to the TV I tell you to go to. Geoff and Candace, you two are at the first TV. You'll be playing Dance Dance Revolution!" The two high-fived and ran up to their TV. "Trent and Selena, here comes the funny part, you'll be playing Guitar Hero." The two walked up on stage, going to the TV with the guitar controllers. "Herbie and Heather, you'll be bowling… Wii-style! Go to TV number three." They walked up to the third television and grabbed their remotes. "Gwen and Xavier, Wii Golf, fourth TV, now!" Gwen sulkily walked up to the TV, Xavier running behind her.

"The rest of you," Chris yelled, "Come up here and pull a game out of this hat." He took a hat from the stage steps, holding it out. "The slip your game is written on will tell you where to go to play. Hurry up!" The remaining siblings walked up to Chris, one out of every group grabbing a slip of paper. "Report to where the slips tell you immediately. McClean out!" With that, Chris left to go to his monitor room.

*T*S*R*

Smacking the 3 ball into the corner pocket with her cue stick, LeShawna smirked and looked up at Duke. "I'd like to see ya beat me. Shawnie's a pool master!" The two had been assigned to play billiards. For some reason, though, the pool table was set up in a giant field.

With a grunt, Duke threw another one of his empty beer cans down on the ground, blowing a raspberry as he did. "I cud bea yous wid muh brain tied behin muh back!"

"Hm, I didn't even know you had one in your head." LeShawna shook her head, aiming for another ball. Suddenly, another cue stick showed up next to hers, trying to hit the same ball. "Whatchu think you're doin', boy? It's still my turn!"

"Iz **muh** turn!" Duke slurred as he aimed at the 4 ball. Instead of hitting it properly, he swung it back like a baseball bat, smacking LeShawna in the face. The large and in charge girl rubbed her aching nose, glared at Duke, and pushed him out of the way. The drunk dropped his stick, returning the push. LeShawna growled, but chose to just walk away.

--

"I'm starting to see why that Marilee girl hates him so much," LeShawna graoned, rubbing her temples. "And I see why Raven likes him so much. He's got no brains, common sense, morals…" She gagged a little bit, remembering what she was about to say. "And apparently no mouthwash. That boy's breath stanks!"

--

*T*S*R*

Marilee huffed, straightening her dress as she sat cross-legged on the floor of the guys' side of the Killer Bears cabin. Duncan sat across from her, propping his chin on his hand. "I hate Guess Who," she mumbled, studying the card that her person's face was on.

"It's not like I'm eager to play it either, Barbie." She stuck her tongue out at him, only giving him a satisfied feeling inside. "Let's just get this over with."

"Fine, I'll start." She set her card facedown and asked, "Does your person have blue eyes?"

"Nope."

"… Dang it." She flipped two of the cards on her board down.

"Is your person a red head?"

"Yeah." Duncan knocked down a bunch of his cards. "Does your person have grey hair?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Dang it!" Marilee flipped three more cards down.

"Is your person a woman?"

Marilee opened her mouth, ready to answer, but shut it and picked her card up again. There was the face of a person with shoulder length red hair and a matching mustache. The name underneath read, 'Alfred'. The blonde tilted her head, thinking. _It could be a woman with a glandular problem… That would explain the mustache. But it's name is Alfred, so it's probably a guy… Then again, if you can name a dude Susan, then you could surely name a girl Alfred. Poor girl. Or it could-_

"Yes or no?!" Duncan barked.

"I'm thinking!" She cried, trying to get her train of thought back on track.

"It's a simple question. Just say yes or no!"

"Well, I got the hard one!"

"There's no hard one, you're probably just too dumb to tell!"

"You're dumb!" she screeched, jabbing a finger in his face.

"At least I know the difference between a dude and a chick, Blondie!"

"I'm so sick of you!" Marilee screamed, her face growing red. She picked her card up again, inspecting it one more time. "And yes, my person **is** a woman!" She slammed her card down and grabbed her board. "I HATE THIS GAME!!!" She threw the board at the wall, making several of them fly out of their slots. The fashionista stood up, storming off. She didn't care if she lost the challenge, she just wanted to get away from that jerk!

Duncan looked as if that little scene hadn't even affected him. He merely looked down at his board again, flipping down all of the cards but one. He twisted his body to face the open door that Marilee had just stormed out of and yelled, "It was Alfred, wasn't it?"

*T*S*R*

Selena struggled to press the buttons on her guitar controller at the right time. "Ug… this is hard!"

"I told you to start at the easy level," Trent told her, playing on the second hardest level with little difficulty.

"But then I'd look lame!" Trent looked over at Selena. She was slamming on random buttons, hoping that'd work. Her expression was so strained looking, it was almost comical. She was teetering back and forth, as if that would help her gaming any.

"Trust me, I think you would look a lot less lame than you do now."

Meanwhile, Gwen was doing pretty decent at her golfing game. And surprisingly, Xavier wasn't acting so weird. That is, until his ball landed in the virtual lake. "FOUL!" He screamed.

"It's golf. Wii golf." Gwen pointed out. "There are no fouls."

"The ump's blind!" Xavier yelled, pointing up at the Goth.

"What? I'm not the umpire. There is no umpire in golf!" Gwen yelled down at the twin. She clenched her fists, and griped, "That's it! Screw this game!" She tossed her remote down and stormed off. Xavier blinked, shrugged, and randomly threw his remote at the television screen, making it crack.

Over in the stands, Jovie and DJ were sitting in the front row, a Connect Four game between them. DJ didn't really seem to have his head in the game. He kept putting his red pieces in the weirdest places. Jovie noticed, too. "Boy, you okay? You seem distracted. I've beaten you six times and I suck at this game. And it's your turn again."

DJ snapped out of his trance, looking down at the board. "Oh, right. Sorry, girl." He placed another piece on the very right slot, doing him absolutely no good. He turned his head back to the position it was in before, staring at what he was previously looking at. Jovie took a look, too. She wanted to know what was so darn interesting.

All she saw was Heather, Wii bowling with her 'brother.' The two looked like they were having a good time, laughing and bowling. Heather looked really nice when she was genuinely smiling and laughing. But why was DJ looking at her? Jovie took a second to put two and two together. She smirked and asked, "You like her, don't you?"

The brick house looked at Jovie again, stuttering, "W-what? No, I-I don't. I ju-just think it's great that she's nice now, you know?"

"Mmhmm. Whatever you say, DJ." Jovie put another black piece into a slot, beating DJ for the seventh time.

*T*S*R*

Keith, who was sitting cross legged on the ground next to the bear cave, stared at Izzy, unsure of what to say to her. She wasn't exactly playing the game right. "Um… Izzy? In Go Fish…" The skater boy looked at the items in Izzy's hand and pointed out, "You're not supposed to use **real **fish."

In her hands, Izzy held a few cards, mixed in with a few fishes. She waved him off and yelled, "Nonsense! This is how they play it in Wisconsin."

Keith blinked. "Why would they use fish to play this game in the land of cheese? And besides, we're not in Wisconsin!"

The red head sighed, tired of his whining. "Fine, we'll play the Ontarian version."

He was almost afraid to ask. "How do you play that one?"

Izzy turned around, stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled. There was silence for a moment, until a large grizzly bear came charging out of the cave and toward the two. Keith effeminately shrieked, dropped his cards and bolted, the bear close behind.

The crazy girl got up, wildly waving her arms as a motion to get him to come back. "Wait, don't go! You're winning!"

*T*S*R*

Cody and Grace had been assigned to play Sorry in the girls side of the Wolves cabin. Grace was laying on her stomach, propping her chin up with her free hand. She was using her other hand to pick up a card. "Move forward three spaces." She tossed the card aside, moving her blue piece forward three spaces. She was almost at Home. "Yay, I'm winning!" She victoriously pumped a fist in the air.

Cody picked up her tossed card and looked at it. "Hey, wait a minute…" He showed the card to Grace, revealing something different than what she said. "This says you're supposed to go **back** three spaces! You're cheating!"

Grace let out a small laugh, shaking her head. "You know what you have to do in order to be a good, uninjured big brother, Cody?"

"Um… what?"

Grace crawled over to him and yanked him by his shirt. "You let the little sister win. Got it?" With her free hand, she curled it into a fist, her knuckles cracking oh so slightly.

Cody gulped, looking down at her fist. "Yeah… got it."

Grace released him, making him fall backwards. "Good!" She bounced back over to her place. She drew Cody's next card for him. "Throw all of your pieces out the window." She tossed the card aside. "Well, you heard the card, Cody!"

The techno geek sighed, gathering up his pieces and walking toward the open window. It would beat getting another black eye.

*T*S*R*

"Hmm…" Chris looked the groups on the many monitors before him. "Trent, Selena, Jovie, DJ, Bridgette, Zack, Herbie, Heather, Geoff and Candace didn't fight at all, so they each get a point." Chris tallied up the scores on a piece of paper on his clipboard. "Owen tried to eat the Candyland game board, but he and Zoey still didn't fight." He added another tally. "The rest all fought, so that's seven points for the Killer Bears and five points for the Rabid Wolves." With that, Chris got up, walking out of the monitor room.

While leaving, he mumbled, "I really need to hire someone to do this math crap for me…"

*T*S*R*

"Okay," Chris exclaimed, looking at the campers, who were back in the amphitheater, "A lot of you sucked on the last challenge, but you can still redeem yourselves in the next two challenges. But for now, the next challenge is the age-old sibling rivalry challenge: fighting over the TV remote. Since we only have three not-cracked screens now…" He looked over at Xavier, who sheepishly grinned, and continued, "We're gonna have to do four rounds with each group instead of three. Each group will have five minutes to decide on what to watch. If you fight too much, you lose the round. First up, Grace and Cody, Geoff and Candace, and Keith and Izzy."

Cody gulped and Keith shuddered, but walked up with their respective sisters, sitting down on the couches that had somehow appeared in front of their televisions. Chris tossed the three groups their remotes, still grinning. "When all of the TVs are turned on, you can start fighting- I mean deciding on what show you watch. Turn those babies on and start already!"

They did as they were told, and the contest began. "There anything you wanna watch?" Candace asked Geoff.

Geoff shrugged. "Not really. Whatever's cool with you's fine with me."

Candace took the remote and flipped it to some cheerleading movie. "You wanna watch this?"

"Sure." The two made themselves comfortable.

Meanwhile, Izzy had hold of the remote, channel surfing so fast, Keith couldn't tell what they were passing. "Slow down, Izzy!"

Izzy didn't respond, but continued for another minute until she finally stopped. It landed on a surfer movie. "Ooh, I love this one!" Izzy exclaimed, "This is the one where the dude gets his legs bitten off by a killer shark! Let's watch this one!"

Keith did actually like the movie, and he was afraid of what Izzy would do to him if he argued, so he simply said, "Okay." and slumped in his seat slightly.

Over with Cody and Grace, the two were still fighting over what to watch. "I say we're watching Hannah Montana!" Grace screeched, trying to pull the remote out of Cody's grasp.

"But I wanna watch the Technology Channel!" Cody whined, trying to keep his grip on the remote. "And I'm the oldest, anyway. I should get to pick what we watch!"

"I SAID WE'RE WATCHING HANNAH FREAKING MONTANA!" Grace howled, causing a small echo and making the others, including Cody, stare at her. Grace finally snatched the remote, turning on the Disney Channel.

Cody turned around, wondering how Trent reacted to that little tantrum, but Selena was sitting by herself, except for her empty popcorn bowl. "Where's Trent?" Cody asked, yelling loud enough so that Selena could hear.

She shrugged apologetically and replied, "He went to the bathroom after you guys got on stage. Sorry!"

Cody face-palmed. Grace was good.

"Time's up!" Chris yelled.

"B-but…" Geoff stammered, unable to look away from the TV, "I need to know if Sawyer makes it to the National Cheer Off!"

Chris rolled his eyes. "She and her whole squad go, win and then there's a big musical cheerleading thingy as the credits roll and blah blah blah…" When a few of the campers gave him weird glances for knowing the ending to a chick flick, Chris shrugged. "One of my ex-wives played Sawyer's older sister. She made me watch it. Sue me. Whatever, it's time for the next groups to come up. Heather and Herbie, Courtney and Jamal, and Bridgette and Zack. You guys are up."

As the new groups walked up and the old ones went to sit down, Trent came back and sat down next to Selena. "What'd I miss?"

She liked her face the way it was, so she didn't tell him about Grace's little fit. "Not much. I learned that Chris has an ex-wife."

Trent rolled his eyes. "He has about ten of them!"

Up on stage, Heather and Herbie were watching SpongeBob and Bridgette and Zack had settled to watch a rerun of Full House , since they couldn't find anything better. Courtney and Jamal were the ones having problems.

"I am **not** watching some corny kung fu movie!" Courtney exclaimed, trying to grab the remote.

"And **I'm **not watching some sissy ballet!" Jamal kept the remote from her, holding it high above his head.

Courtney jumped up and down, trying to take it from him. "Ballet is not sissy, it's beautiful and it has some culture, unlike that movie you chose! The people's words don't even match their mouth's movement!"

"That's the fun of it!" Jamal yelled, still waving it above his head.

"Time's up!" Chris screamed, making Courtney and Jamal stop their quarreling. The groups went back to the stand and Chris called the next six names, "Trent and Selena, Duke and LeShawna, and Gwen and Xavier."

By some sort of miracle, Xavier calmed down when Gwen flipped to SpongeBob, so she decided not to ruin her luck and just kept it on. Trent and Selena couldn't seem to find anything interesting to watch. "Man, there's nothing good on today," Selena mumbled, flipping through the channels. When they reached Comedy Central, there was an episode of Scrubs on. "Oh, I like this show. Wanna watch this?" Selena asked.

Trent nodded approvingly. "Yeah, this is a funny show."

Meanwhile, Duke was laying facedown on the couch, forcing LeShawna to stand. "Would you move so I can sit down?!"

"Leave me alone." Duke mumbled in the pillow. "I don't feel good…"

"It's called a hangover, idiot." LeShawna said, grabbing the remote. "Scoot over so I can sit down and pick a show to watch."

"No!" Duke protested, kicking and punching the couch like a little kid.

"Time's up!" Chris yelled once again.

"What?" LeShawna exclaimed, storming over to Chris. "But I didn't even get to find something to watch!"

"That's not my problem." Chris grinned, despite the sista's angered face. "Okay, last group! DJ and Jovie, Owen and Zoey, and Duncan and Marilee. Get your butts up here!"

LeShawna grabbed Duke by his shirt and dragged him off stage. He didn't protest, though. He had fallen asleep.

On stage, DJ and Jovie had chosen a documentary on the Discovery channel about rabbits. Owen and Selena had decided to watch Hannah Montana, too. "I secretly love this show," Owen whispered to Zoey so no one could hear. "Don't tell anybody, though, okay?" Zoey grinned and nodded.

Meanwhile, Duncan and Marilee were playing tug of war with the remote. "We're watching South Park!" the punk exclaimed, pulling the remote closer to him.

"That show's retarded!" Marilee struggled to do so, but she was able to pull the remote back toward her. "We're watching Gilmore Girls!"

"That show's about old ladies!" Duncan pulled the remote back toward himself.

"That's the **Golden Girls,** stupid!" The blonde tried to get the remote back, but her hands couldn't take all the gripping anymore. She released it, sending both of them backwards and onto the floor.

"Time's up again!" Chris yelled, stepping over Duncan and Marilee as they were lying on the ground in pain. Everybody moved on out to the mess hall, minus Duncan and Marilee.

After a few minutes of silent rest, they both got up and glared at each other. "Bet you're not faster than me!" Marilee exclaimed.

Duncan scoffed, "Sweetheart, I've been running from the cops my entire life. I'm much faster."

"Prove it." The fashionista pointed to the mess hall and said, "Whoever gets to the mess hall first wins. READY SET GO!" She bolted away, giving herself a two second start.

*T*S*R*

When the two finally reached the mess hall, both ran in the door at the same time, making them stuck in it. "I got here first!" Marilee yelled, trying to shove Duncan out of the way with her shoulder.

"You're dreaming. I did!" Duncan did the same to her with his shoulder.

They continued to struggle until Selena approached them, pulling them inside and away from each other. "It's a tie!" she exclaimed, trying to get them to calm down.

"Anyway," Chris interrupted their quarreling, "It's time for the final challenge. And it's the final chance for you to redeem yourselves, Rabid Wolves, since you're now losing by three points." He turned to the kitchen door and cried, "Oh, Chef! Bring out the cookies!"

"Cookies?" Duncan and Marilee asked, confused.

"Cookies!" Zoey and Owen exclaimed.

"That's right. Your last challenge is another classic sibling obstacle: who gets the last cookie."

Chef came bursting out the door, a scowl on his face. He was dressed up like a '50s housewife, complete with a baby blue dress with matching high heels, a frilly white apron, and a blonde, poofy '50s wig. He was carrying a tray full of twelve plates, each containing one chocolate chip cookie, fresh from the oven.

"Granny McClean's own secret recipe, this cookie is guaranteed to be the most scrumptious thing you will ever eat in your entire life." A few mouths watered at hearing this, including Zoey's, who had a weak spot for cookies, and Owen's, who had a weak spot for almost everything edible. "All you have to do is decide who gets to eat this warm, tasty, chocolaty, mouth-watering cookie. When…" Chris laughed at what he was about to say. "…Momma Chef-" Chef growled at him, cancelling his laughter. "I mean, Chef, gives you your cookie, you can start." Chef slammed a plate in front of each camper, scowling at anyone who dared to laugh.

Heather looked down at the cookie, gulping slightly. She was currently on a diet, but that cookie looked so good… she had to get rid of it. "Do you want it, Herbie?"

Herbie nodded, grabbed his cookie and took a bite. After he swallowed, he grinned and gave Heather a hug. "Thanks, Heather! You're the bestest sister ever!"

She was shocked at first, but eventually returned the hug, smiling.

--

"At first, I wasn't sure if being nice would work out for me," Heather smiled, her hands in her lap. "But seeing how much nicer people are back to me… I really think it's going to be worth it."

--

Zoey and Owen took a look at the delicious cookie, then at each other, then back at the cookie one last time. Both pounced on it at the same time, scratching at each other in attempts to get it. They eventually ended up on the floor, duking it out.

Speaking of Duke, he and LeShawna had won this challenge, mainly because he was still sleeping away his hangover and LeShawna didn't have to fight him for it. She chomped her cookie victoriously. Jamal had eaten the cookie before he and Courtney could even fight about it so Courtney had stormed off, angry at him. Zack didn't like chocolate, so he let Bridgette have it. Grace had threatened Cody again, so he gave her the cookie, mainly because he liked living. Gwen figured it wasn't worth getting another crazy attack over, so she just let Xavier have the cookie.

Duncan and Marilee were, big shocker, fighting over who got the cookie. "I should get it! Haven't you ever heard of chivalry?" Marilee said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Duncan rolled his eyes. "Um… that only applies to chicks." He smirked, seeing Marilee gasp at his comment. She pushed him onto the floor and tackled him, starting yet another fist fight between them.

Trent looked down at the two fighting groups and back up at Selena. "Do Duncan and Zoey always fight people like this at home?"

Selena, who had been twirling a strand of hair, looked up and Trent and asked, "Wha?" She looked down, seeing her brother and sister fighting Marilee and Owen. "Oh. I didn't even notice they were doing it now…" She shrugged. "But you can go ahead and have the cookie. I'm full from that popcorn." Trent was shocked by the fact that she was so used to their violence, but shrugged, thanked her and ate his cookie.

Over by Keith and Izzy, Izzy had figured out how they could decide who got the cookie. "Oh, I know!" Izzy yelled, a light bulb lighting up in her head. "We'll settle this the Argentinean way! Come on out, Whiskers!" Before he could ask, a raccoon appeared out of nowhere, clinging itself to Keith's face. He shrieked, flailed his arms wildly and fled from the mess hall.

"Uh…" Chef looked confused. "There aren't even any raccoons in Argentina, are there?"

Chris just shook his head. "With her, it's better not to even ask."

Geoff and Candace had both wanted the cookie, but couldn't decide who'd get it. "Wait, I have an idea!" Candace exclaimed. She grabbed the cookie, snapping it in half. She handed one half to Geoff and kept the other half for herself. Each of them took a bite.

"Woah, you're, like, a genius!" Geoff complimented with a mouthful of cookie.

"I know, right?" Candace said, also with a mouthful of cookie.

DJ and Jovie saw what they did and followed suit. "Wow, I can't believe we didn't think of that first," DJ said, taking a bite into his cookie.

Seeing that they were all done, Chris said, "Okay, the challenge is officially over! After tallying up the scores, the winners are… The Killer Bears!" All of the Bears got up and cheered victoriously, while the Wolves just slumped unhappily. Chris turned toward the camera and grinned. "There you have it, folks! Who will be leaving the island for good? Will Duke ever wake up from his hangover? Will Holly ever get me that latte I asked her to get me three hours ago?" He said the last one with a frown, but perked back up and said, "Find out all this and more during the most dramatic campfire ceremony yet! On **Total! Sibling! Rivalry!**"

* * *

I just had to make that Smosh reference.

I just had to. X3


	10. Day 2, Part 3: Sibling Swap Seremony

Woot. This chapter is crap compared to the previous one… but someone else's sorry butt gets kicked off the island, so it should be interesting. :3

Do not try any of the stunts you see here at home. Seriously, Marilee already got enough of it from Xavier, she doesn't need you doing it, too… Oops, spoilers… :P

Disclaimers are in the previous chapters. Read, review and enjoy!

* * *

The Rabid Wolves had left the mess hall, trying to decide who they'd vote off. Marilee made sure to call Duncan a very bad word before she left. He had just shrugged and said he's been called worse. LeShawna had rallied a few of her teammates together, whispering to the group, most likely convincing them to vote Duke the Drunk off the island.

Chris made the Killer Bears stay behind, mainly to give them their prize for winning immunity. Ironically for Selena and Trent, it was cheese popcorn and bottles of grape soda. "Are you sure you got our snacks from Owen's secret stash?" He asked, a suspicious grin on his face.

Selena let out a nervous laugh and waved a nonchalant hand. "Hee hee, what? Do you think I stole them from Chris? No way! I just, um… you know…"

"Save it." He grabbed his soda, opening it with a twist. "Figured Duncan's sister would have a little bit of klepto in her."

She rolled her eyes as Trent took a sip of his grapey goodness. "It was a one-time thing, and it was Chris' stuff. I'm not like Duncan and I'm most definitely not a thief."

"Well…" Trent set his bottle down. "Let's see… There was my guitar, our snacks and…Oh, what's this?" He reached into Selena's skirt pocket, pulling out a handheld video game console. "Why look, it's Zack's Goo Mummies game!" He waved it in front of her guilty face, smirking.

She snatched it back and stuttered, "I-I-I w-was just b-borrowing it… y-you know… without h-his permission…" She tucked the game back into her pocket and shoved a fistful of cheesy kernels to avoid putting her foot in her mouth again.

"Ri-iiiiiiight." Trent popped a piece of popcorn into his mouth.

Selena decided to change the subject before he found something else to make her feel guilty about. "So who do you think'll get voted off?" she asked, finally opening her soft drink.

Trent shrugged. "I think it'll be Marilee. She's got too much of a temper to really work together with any of her teammates." He took another sip of his soda.

Selena shook her head. "I guess you've got a point, but I think it's gonna be Duke. He spends too much time drinking to be any use to the team. At least Marilee can be useful when she's not ticked off."

"Yeah," Trent took a long drink and continued, "That's a good point you've got there."

She merely let out a loud burp in return and giggled, "Hee, that was a good one!"

Trent cocked an eyebrow, but a small smirk crept onto his face. "So, you like the Jonas Brothers and pink, but you also aren't grossed out by burps? You're really nice, but have a little bit of delinquent in you? You sure are… unique."

Selena grinned and shrugged. "What can I say? I don't like to fit into just one stereotype."

*T*S*R*

Nighttime had fallen and the Rabid Wolves were gathered around the campfire, waiting for Chris to arrive with their marshmallows. After getting someone to remove the child proof cap, Duke popped two aspirin out of a small white bottle into his hand and shoved them into his mouth, swallowing them dry. He had slept his hangover away, but still had a killer headache. That, however, didn't stop him from returning the glare that Marilee was sending him.

* * *

"Am I worried about getting voted off?" Marilee cocked an eyebrow at the camera, as if it was the dumbest question anybody could ever ask. "Of course not! Sure, I may be a little…" She took a second to think of the right word and continued, "ill-tempered… but at least I'm not some alcoholic frat boy!" She blew a raspberry at the very thought of her eldest brother and continued, "While **I **have a versatile amount of skills, Duke's only talent is shaking off a hangover in under three hours." She shook her head and smirked. "He is **so **going home tonight."

* * *

Chris finally arrived, carrying a tray full of marshmallows. He looked down at the platter, then back at the contestants in front of him. "There are twelve campers in front of me. There are only eleven marshmallows on this plate. One of you will be leaving the island empty-handed." A few campers exchanged nervous glances. "When I call up your name, come up and claim your marshmallow. And, since this is your team's very first bonfire ceremony, I'll even throw in a marshmallow-roasting stick." He grinned, jerking a thumb toward the pile of twigs sitting on his oil drum.

Duke mockingly twirled an enthusiastic finger, sarcastically mumbling, "Whoop-de-freaking-doo." After he was done, he shut his eyes and pinched the space between his eyebrows, hoping it'd relieve the throbbing pain in his head.

"The first camper to get a marshmallow is… Bridgette." The surfer girl smiled and was about to walk up, but before she could, Chris said, "And Geoff!" The couple exchanged glances, grinned, and walked up to claim their marshmallows together. After grabbing their sticks and poking the marshmallows on, the two exchanged a long kiss while they roasted their marshmallows on the campfire. "Next up is… Keith." He pumped a fist in the air, running up to roast his marshmallow.

By that point, Bridgette and Geoff just finished feeding their freshly roasted marshmallows to each other and had continued to make out, both of their mouths covered in white, sticky fluff. Keith eyed their sticky make out session and mumbled, "Dudes, get a room…"

"Jovie and LeShawna." The sisters high-fived and walked up to Chris, grabbing their marshmallow sticks. "… Izzy!"

"Woot!" Izzy sped up to Chris, grabbed her stick and instead of sticking her marshmallow in the fire, she stuck it in some nearby dirt. The redhead noticed the strange looks she received. "What?" Izzy took the marshmallow off the stick, shoved it in her mouth and started chewing it. "It gives it texture!"

Chris' eye twitched in disgust, but he turned back to the remaining campers. "Herbie and Xavier." The twins ran up, swiping two sticks and two marshmallows. Unlike their sister, both of them stuck theirs in the flames, since Xavier claimed that eating dirt gave him indigestion and Herbie just admitted that he thought it was gross. "Jamal and DJ, you're up, dudes." The brothers followed his orders, grabbing their marshmallows and sticks.

All eyes went on the two remaining campers, Marilee and Duke. The two siblings turned toward each other, giving each other a lethal glare.

* * *

"I'm gonna be straight-forward: either Duke or Marilee had to go," Jovie admitted. "I was gonna vote off Marilee, 'cause I hear she don't recycle her diet soda cans, but LeShawna told me to turf Duke out. My big sis knows what she's talkin' 'bout, so buh-bye, Dukey!"

* * *

"LeShawna tried to convince me to vote off Duke, but," DJ bit his lip, nervously glancing around, as if a certain blonde had been hiding in the small confessional stall he was in, eavesdropping. "I voted for Marilee. That girl really needs to learn to calm down if she wants to make to the Final Two. Her temper's almost as bad as Eva's. " DJ's eyes widened a bit. "Don't tell her I said that, though, okay?" He shuddered and squeaked, "She scares me!"

* * *

Chris chuckled, looking at them glare at each other. "Wow, this must be really awkward for you two…"

"Not really," Duke barked, not taking his glare off of Marilee.

"Nope." Marilee spat, staring at Duke harder than ever.

"All righty then," Chris shrugged. "Let's get the drama back into gear, people!" Dramatic music started to play as the host held up the last marshmallow in front of the two siblings. They didn't notice, however, since their death glares on each other remained unfazed.

The host glanced at the safe campers, wondering how they were reacting. Each person had mixed emotions, but Geoff, who had finally parted from Bridgette's lip lock, looked the most distressed. His usually chipper face was twisted into a nervous one and his blue eyes kept darting from his brother to his sister. He still had a gooey marshmallow mustache with a matching gooey, white soul patch, which he would have been laughing about if not for the fact that one of his siblings was about to be voted off.

Chris paused as the dramatic music continued to play, with Duke and Marilee's eyes squinting tighter and tighter at each other with each beat. "Duke, Marilee, the final marshmallow goes to…"

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"Marilee."

Both of their glares were snapped at hearing that news and their eyes landed on Chris, who was holding the marshmallow out to the blonde on a stick. She grinned triumphantly, stood up, grabbed her stick and looked at Duke again, who was scowling at her. She stuck her marshmallow in the embers and said, "Well, you heard him, drunktard. The Boat of Losers- emphasis on **LOSERS**- is waiting for you."

Duke stood up slowly. "Whatever," he mumbled in a tone that tried to make it sound like he didn't care. "I ran outta beer, anyway." He started walking toward the dock, passing the other immune campers. Marilee chomped on her roasted marshmallow.

Geoff looked like he was the only one who was sad to see him go. "See you, bro." He waved sadly, Bridgette giving him a comforting pat on the shoulder.

Duke was about ten feet away from the campfire pit, but turned around suddenly and randomly yelled, "Since you guys wanted to keep my sister instead of me so bad, you should know a little something about her: MARILEE WAS BORN WITH A TAIL!" He bolted toward the dock and hopped onto the Boat of Losers before Marilee could throttle him.

There was an awkward silence and all eyes went on Marilee, who had started laughing. "W-wow, h-how lame of Duke to ju-just make crap up t-to make me look bad, right?"

* * *

Marilee's fists were clenched, her knuckles practically white. Her face was the opposite, since it was a bright, furious shade of red. "That butt hole!" she hissed, her fists shaking in fury. "I told him not to ever tell anybody that!"

* * *

The others shrugged and dispersed, minus Marilee and Xavier, who had wandered behind her. She eyed him. "What are you looking at?"

"Is it like a hamster tail or a puppy tail?"

"I wasn't born with a tail!" Marilee lied, trying to get him away from her.

"Maybe it's a horsey tail! Lemme see it!" He tried to pull up her dress, but she shoved him aside before he could.

"Would you get lost, kid? I don't have a stinkin' tail!" Marilee turned around to walk away, but suddenly felt somebody jump on her back.

A small pair of feet dug into her sides and two grubby little hands grabbed the long strands of hair by her face. Said hands tugged on the strands as if they were reigns and the voice behind the hands yelled, "GIDDY UP, HORSEY!" The blonde let out a high pitched screech, both from the pain of her pulled hair and dug-into sides and her own extreme shock. She started racing away, running past a few confused campers.

*T*S*R*

Duncan, who had been wandering around aimlessly up until that point, walked toward the Killer Bears cabin. It was getting late, so he figured he might as well turn in for the night. The others were probably in bed by now, so it wouldn't be any fun staying up late if there was no one to bully or do anything illegal to. He was thinking about pranking Chris, but… it wasn't as fun pulling pranks alone. Just as he was about to open the door to the guy's side, he heard a faint, high-pitched moan somewhere near him. He looked down, seeing his youngest sister laying on her back by his feet on the porch, eyes squinted in pain. Zoey's hands were rubbing her bloated tummy, trying to relive the pain.

The punk cocked his unibrow and kneeled down next to Zoey, propping one arm on his knee. He sighed, "Dip into Owen's stash a bit too much, huh, kid?" She didn't open her eyes, but merely nodded to answer him. "Would helping me replace Chris' hair gel with grape jelly make you feel any better?" She repeated her previous nodding action. Duncan grabbed her under her armpits, ready to lift her up, but struggled to do so since she weighted a great amount more after her junk food feast. She wasn't being very cooperative either, due to her bloated fatigue. "C'mon, Zoe, up you go." He finally managed to lift her all the way up to his shoulders and gingerly placed her there. Supporting her massive gut made his neck and his entire back sore and he groaned, "Man, what'd you eat, a caramel-filled bowling ball?"

Zoey propped her chin on her brother's head. Finally speaking in something other than moans, she said, "No… I had a few of the chocolate-coated bowling pins, though…"

Duncan started walking down the stairs, gripping Zoey's small legs to make sure she didn't fall and make a dent in the ground with her massive belly. As they were passing the campfire pit, he saw a purple, black and blonde blur fly past them, wailing like a psycho. He stopped and blinked, wondering what the heck that thing was. The thing went past them again revealing that it was Marilee, with Xavier still on her back, yelling 'giddy ups' at her and yanking on her hair. The two fled from their sight, leaving both Zoey and Duncan confused.

After a minute of bamboozled silence, Duncan continued to walk toward Chris' 'secret' cabin, the raven haired four year old still on his shoulders. He was silent for a while, but a smirk crept on his face and he said, "Hey, maybe if you're a good helper, I'll let you ride the ugly horsey."

* * *

Aww, poor Duke. And Marilee. And Zoey. Sucks to be all of them. D:

But what do you think will happen next? What will be in store for our siblings? Will there be more rivalries? Friendships? Will Chris be peeved the next morning when he finds out he just smeared jelly in his hair? You'll have to tune in to find out, in the next chapter of **TOTAL SIBLING RIVALRY!**

Idea for the tail thing came from That '70s Show, btw. Gotta love that show. _XD_


	11. Day 3, Part 1: The Crazy Chase

I am the biggest idiot on Earth. I named Gwen's brother Zack and Cody's here, too… For the first part, I felt like I was writing a Suite Life fan fiction… XD

Anyway, sorry for the late post. Had mad writer's block for a while. And for those of you who have noted me about challenge ideas, I'll respond shortly. Sorry, been way busy with school and crap. I'd respond now, but it's late and I'm tired…

But this is a weird challenge. I'm not denying that. And no interns. They might be in the next chapter.

Just gonna warn you, there's some slightly naughty stuff near the end of the chapter. But that's why it's rated T, right?

I own nothing but the OC siblings. If I owned TDI, God knows I would have made Trindsay canon… :D

Read, review, and enjoy!

* * *

Zack sat silently on the steps leading to the Killer Bears cabin, pounding away on the buttons of his portable video game console. Cody emerged from the boy's side of the cabin and sat down next to him. The two had recently gotten to becoming friends, since they shared some of the same techie interests. And heck, maybe if Gwen ever broke up with Trent, Zack could give her a good word for him. "Hey, dude. See you found your Yintendo PS."

Zack didn't look up from the screen, but nodded. "Yeah, dunno where it went yesterday. But last night, before I went to bed, it was lying on my pillow."

"Hmm. Weird."

"Yeah…" His game made a strange beeping noise, and he let out a victorious, "Oh, yeah! That that, goo mummy!" Lowering his voice again he asked, eyes still glued on the screen, "So did you find a new dream girl yet?"

"Umm, yeah…" Cody scratched the back of his head. "I almost did, but something, or rather someone, got in the way…"

_**Flashback: Day 1, 12:43 PM**_

_Cody was talking to a small group of guys, sharing their tales of the past year. Duncan, who had just been talking to Owen, walked over to join the group. "Hey, guys," he said confusedly as he sat down next to Cody._

"_You okay, man?" DJ asked. "You look like you saw a ghost."_

"… _I don't know what I just saw. I think Owen got mauled by a giant leprechaun." _

_Realizing how silly that sounded, his expression turned back to normal, he shook his head and said, "Naaah, it was probably just Izzy…" Seeing Cody sitting next to him, he teasingly asked, "Hey. You find a new chick to obsess over?" He gave him a small punch in the arm, probably making it harder than he meant. _

_The truth was, that punch had actually hurt. Like, A LOT. But Cody pretended it didn't and said, "I'm still hoping that Gwen will want me someday, but hey, I've been looking for someone to hold me off until then…"_

"_Maybe you'll find someone here," DJ suggested. "There are a lot of new girls here."_

_Cody nodded, but wasn't that convinced, since most of the sisters were younger than him… but behind DJ, he saw someone. There was a pretty blonde a few yards away, sitting on a log and talking to two other guys. Cody grinned, pointing to the girl. "Whoa, guys, look at that babe!" The guys turned around and saw the girl. Most of their eyes widened when they saw the girl Cody was pointing at. Not for the reason that he thought, however. Duncan's eyes were full of rage, though you could tell he was trying to contain himself. _

"_Man, she's hot…" The girl stood up and Cody got a better look at her. "She's an uber babe!" The other guys, sans Duncan, were making blunt motions, trying to tell him to shut up. He still didn't notice. "Her butt isn't half bad, either…" _

_By this time, Duncan had taken all he could take. He stood up, fists shaking in fury. "That… 'uber babe,'" he growled through his teeth, "Is. My. Little. Sister."_

_Cody's eyes widened. He nervously said, "Oh crap, I'm sorry, man! I didn't know! I-If I had known, I-I would have never talked about your sister's bu-"_

_But Cody couldn't finish because Duncan shut his mouth. _

_With his fist._

_**End Flashback**_

"Hmm," Zack mumbled. "Bummer. Who was she?"

"I… I'd rather not say."

He nodded understandingly. His game played a victorious tune and Zack pumped a fist.

"Yes, half a million points! I beat my old high score!"

"Awesome!"

"Now to punch in my initials and see my score on the score board… Wait, what the heck?" His face scrunched in confusion. "My new score's only the **second** highest."

"What do you mean?" Cody grabbed the game from him, looking at the scoreboard. "Who's SAC?"

"Sack? Like a bag or something?"

"No, S-A-C. SAC. You sure this isn't the first three letters of your name and you screwed up on the Z?"

"No, I used my initials. And besides, that one's higher." Zack scratched his head, messing up his brown hair even more. "Whoever took it last night must have beaten my score…" He grabbed his baseball cap that he sat on one of the steps and put it back on backwards, as he usually does.

Just then, a certain pink-clad girl walked out of the girl's side of the cabin. "Hey, guys. What's up?" She sat in between the two.

"Hey, Selena," Zack greeted. "We're trying to figure out what SAC stands for…"

Cody handed the console to her and she looked at the screen. Grinning, she handed it to Zack. "I think I know what it means."

"Really? Who is it?"

Getting back up, she positioned herself so that she was facing him. She leaned in pretty close to him, pointing to the initials of the highest scorer, looking him directly in the eyes as she did. "S-A-C. Selena Anne Caliver." With a sassy snap of her fingers, she smirked and walked toward the mess hall.

Zack and Cody just stared at her as she walked off, in awe.

* * *

"I can't believe Selena beat my high score! No chick's ever done that before…" Zack mused. He smiled. "Selena sure is awesome… She's like a guy, but she has boobs!" Thinking over what he just said for a second, he face-palmed. "I'm guessing you're not willing to edit that out, huh?" Zack paused for a while, as if he was expecting an answer from the camera in the Confession Can. He sighed, "Didn't think so."

* * *

"Ha ha, you should have seen the looks on their faces when I told them it was me!" Selena laughed, "Oh, wait, YOU DID!" She burst out laughing again, shaking violently. She swayed back and forth, her laughter getting louder. Eventually, she bonked her head on the side of the Confession can, making her bring a hand up to her bruised spot. "Ow."

* * *

"Duncan, if you see this someday," Cody started, "I just wanna say that I didn't mean that stuff I said about Selena." He nervously laughed. "I knew she was your sister all along, I was just kidding!" He laughed a bit more, and then stopped, looking more serious. "And I really didn't appreciate that punch to the mouth. It didn't help my gap any, I'll tell you that…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

It was almost breakfast time and everybody except for Bridgette and Geoff, who wanted to take a walk before the slop would be served.

Bridgette looked down as she walked, watching each foot take a step. Her brows were furrowed in concentration, as if she was thinking about something really important. Geoff could sense her unwell mood, so he slowly crept his hand closer to hers, grabbing it as they walked. Bridgette looked up at him and grinned a little, giving his hand a slight squeeze. Immediately, her head drooped back down and she focused on her feet again.

"Bridge, you okay?" Geoff asked, obvious concern in his voice. "You've seemed kinda down lately."

She shook her head and looked back up at him again, faking a smile. "No, Geoff. I'm fine, really. Nothing to worry about."

"Okay… If you say so, babe." He grinned, nudging her a bit. "Hey, would a little Geoff Time under the dock make you feel better?"

Sighing, she replied, "I… I'm just not in the mood right now."

He released her hand and nodded, disappointed.

* * *

Geoff slumped and propped his chin in his hand, heaving a sad sigh. " I don't know what's wrong with Bridgette lately. She just seems kind of… weird around me." He sat up straight and continued, "We've only made out, like…" He started counting on his fingers, extremely slowly. "Five times a day. That's seriously low for us!"

* * *

Bridgette and Geoff were a few minutes late to breakfast, but their slop was just as cold and disgusting as everybody else's.

A few minutes later, Chris walked into the mess hall as the campers tried to choke their food down, grinning as usual. Obviously, the next challenge was going to be fun. For him. "Morning, campers! Are you ready for your next challenge?"

Owen let out a loud belch, laughing his jolly laugh afterwards.

"… I'll take that as a yes!"

"So what's the challenge, dude?" Keith asked.

Letting out a small, all-knowing chuckle, he looked at his watch and replied, "Oh, you'll find out in five, four, three, two…"

And like clockwork, Selena's eyes widened, her blue eyes turning a mysterious shade of purple. She let a mischievous grin creep onto her lips and started giggling. She stood up slowly and grabbed a handful of her leftover slop. Letting out one last laugh, she flung the mush to the other end of the table and hit Courtney square in the face with it. A mixture of gasps and giggles filled the air as all eyes turned to either Selena or Courtney, wondering what would happen next.

Courtney, eyes scrunched to avoid getting the grayish goop in her eyes, gasped in frustration and speedily wiped if off. Looking up, she glared at Selena. "What was THAT for?"

"I never liked you!" Selena shrieked with a grin, her eyes half opened. "You're too stuffy, mean, bossy and you smell like strawberries!"

"…Why does it matter to you what I smell like?"

"I'm allergic to strawberries, ya JERK!"

"I don't see how that-"

Before the former CIT could finish, Selena turned around to face the Rabid Wolves table, her expression flashing to anger. "LeShawna, quiet down! I can't hear myself think when you're screaming like a banshee over there!"

Cocking an eyebrow, LeShawna said, "Girl, you crazy or something? I didn't say a thing!"

Her face changed from anger to woozy confusion. "Wait… Since when has your hair been blue?"

All she got in reply was a blink.

Trent, who looked pretty freaked out by his friend's extremely odd behavior, cautiously asked, "Are you feeling okay, Selena?"

Turning toward Trent, she let out a howl of a laugh and said, "Oh, I feel downright peachy, Senor Butt Chin!"

The other campers laughed at the name. "What?"

"Your chin looks like a heiny," she commented, reaching across the table to touch it, only to have him slap her hand away.

"Okay, what's your damage, kid?" Duncan shoved himself onto his feet, walking over to his wacky sister. "You on something?"

Making a goofy-looking, oh-so-slick face, Selena looked up at him and said, "You must be on something if you think you're fooling anyone with that lil' mega tough guy act of yours," she commented, air-quoting 'mega tough guy.' "You go around acting like you're all that, but you're nothing but a big, fat poser!"

A chorus of 'oooohs' echoed through the mess hall as Duncan's eyes widened in fury at his little sister's comment. Just as he was about to smack her upside her head for it, he noticed something different about her. "What's up with your eyes?" They were still drooping in a stupid, relaxed manner, so he lifted one of them up to get a better look at the different color. "You wearing contacts or something?" He released her eyelid.

"No, Duncan," Chris said, focusing the campers' attention onto him again. "Selena's behavior is all thanks to me, for the sake of today's challenge."

The punk glared at him, his fingers curling into tight fists. "McClean, I swear to God, if you drugged her, I'll-"

"Do you think I could get away with drugging you guys on international television?" Chris asked, crossing his arms seriously. He looked to the side and shrugged "I mean, if I could, there's no doubt that I would…" He looked back at Duncan and continued, "But I can't, so I wouldn't. It was more of a… potion."

"Potion?" Marilee asked, not buying it. "This is a reality show. Emphasis on reality."

"Yeah," Heather added. "Potions aren't real, are they?"

"Of course they are!" Chris exclaimed, jabbing a thumb in Selena's direction. She was currently dropping peas in Grace's hair, though she wasn't noticing. "Why else would Wacky McCrazyBird over here be acting so weird?"

"This brings us back to the drugs topic…" Marilee mumbled.

"Would you people just shut up so I can explain the challenge?" The host yelled, making Marilee hush. "Chef slipped the potion into the food of one random contestant from each team. The effects of this potion include crazy behavior, purple irises, and spazzy outbursts. Oh, and get this: it's also a truth serum! All that stuff she just said to you guys," Chris made eye contact with Courtney, Trent and Duncan so they'd know he was talking about them and continued, "was her honest opinion about the three of you. How juicy is this challenge?"

Jovie, getting impatient, asked, "Okay, so that relates to our challenge… how?"

"Oh, right. Well, your challenge is to catch your team's wackadoo before sunset."

"Catch?" Duncan mumbled. "What are you talking about? She's right-" He turned around, finding no Selena behind him.

"Yeah, she ran off a while ago," Chris stated. "And it's gonna be pretty tricky to find her, bra. Heck, the RCMP _still _hasn't found Izzy…"

"True dat," Izzy agreed, nodding her head happily.

"After they get a five minute head start, you guys can go track 'em down."

"So, what about our team?" DJ asked. "Nobody here has started acting crazy."

"Selena probably started eating before the person on your team. They should start showing their crazy side in a few seconds."

After several seconds of silence, as if waiting for the future psycho to come forward, Bridgette quickly got to her feet and screamed at the top of her lungs, "I PEED IN THE SHOWER YESTERDAY!" Her eyes widened as she screamed, a brilliant purple color clearly visible.

Marilee, who had lowered her head and taken a drink of her orange juice to keep herself from arguing with Chris, choked on her drink. It ended up squirting out of her nose, splattering the pulpy juice all over her handmade pink tube top, jean shorts and the pink scarf weaved through the belt loops of her shorts.

* * *

Marilee had removed the pink platform sandals she was wearing and was taking a sudsy scrub brush to her bare feet, careful not to touch the bottom of her feet directly. The orange juice had dried by that point, but rage was obviously shown on her face. "Man, that's what I get for being nice and letting her take her shower before mine!"

* * *

Bridgette turned to the soggy Marilee, pointing at her. She angrily yelled, "You!"

The fashionista, who was dapping her clothing with a napkin, looked up. "What? Are you going to tell me that you peed in my juice, too?"

"You have anger issues!" She shouted, propping her hand on the table. "You're too mean to people! Especially Geoff! He's nothing but nice to you, but you still treat him like crap! You'd probably be more likely to stay if you weren't such a bratty little cow!" Suddenly, she smiled, giving her the hang loose sign. "You just needs to chillax." Suddenly, she started laughing. And with a very high, obnoxious pitch. "Ha ha… Chillax is a funny word."

"Well, it's clear who got the crazy bowl on that team," Gwen mumbled.

With one last cackle, Bridgette sped out the exit, her arms held high above her head.

"…Now that that's over with," Chris said, looking unfazed by the two crazy girls' behavior. "The challenge will start in five minutes. Get your game faces on!"

* * *

"I can't believe Selena said all that stuff about me!" Courtney angrily exclaimed, crossing her arms. "I always thought she liked me. I mean, who doesn't?"

* * *

"Bridgette was so wrong about me," Marilee said, though she didn't sound or look very confident as she said it. "I-I'm not that mean to Geoff… Am I?" She twirled a strand of blonde hair and looked down into her lap. "Well, I do yell at him more than I probably should, and I make him do stuff I don't want to do, and sometimes I throw things at him… Oh, and every once in a while, I make him put on some of the dresses I made to see how they fit on a living thing instead of a sewing dummy… But isn't that what brothers are for?"

* * *

Trent held a small mirror in front of him, feeling his chin softly with his free hand and looking distressed. Taking his eyes off the mirror, he looked at the Confession Can camera and asked, "Does it really look like a butt?"

* * *

Grace was violently shaking her ponytailed hair with her hands, small green balls falling to the floor as she did. "Where'd all these peas come from?"

* * *

*T*S*R*

The teams ran out of the mess hall, discussing amongst themselves what they should do. "Should we split up?" Candace asked no one in particular, still as perky as ever. "We'd cover more ground that way."

"Good idea, sunshine," Duncan said. He turned to the rest of his team and told them, "Everybody split up and spread across the island. Selena's a pretty fast runner, so she could be anywhere by this point." Without another word, the Bears ran off in search of Selena.

* * *

"Wow," Courtney said, in a small state of shock. "Duncan's kinda hot when he takes charge like that," she mused, fanning herself, a small blush on her cheeks.

* * *

Looking down, he saw that Zoey was still looking up at him, unsure of what she should do. Grace was standing nearby, plucking peas out of her hair. "Zoey, stick with Grace so you don't get lost." The little girl nodded, ran up to Grace and grabbed her hand, dragging her into the woods before the little demon could argue.

Duncan ran away, too, passing the Rabid Wolves' group huddle. "Maybe we should split up like they did," DJ suggested.

Jamal shook his head and said, "Naaaah, I think we should-"

"Shut it!" Xavier yelled. "You don't get to talk in this episode!"

The Jamaican-Canadian weight-lifter slumped sadly.

Keeping the conversation going, Keith responded to DJ's idea with a "Good idea, dude. My sister's clumsy, but she can run really fast. So what do we do if we find her?"

"I dunno. Chris never said," Geoff said with a shrug. "Let's just bring her back to the bonfire pit."

With a few collective nods, the Wolves went their separate ways to find Bridgette.

Marilee was running toward the shore, thinking the surfer girl would be there. Keith was following her, though she didn't realize since she never turned back. Once she stopped, Keith was able to catch up. "Hey there, beautiful." He arched an eyebrow and grinned at her, looking, or rather trying to look, seductive.

Marilee rolled her eyes and replied, "Hey there, ugly. Why'd you follow me? Weren't we all supposed to split up?"

"Yeah, but you know…" Keith inched closer to her, making her take a step back. "Just thought you'd like some help."

"I probably would," She said calmly at first, but her face darkened as she continued, "But not from you." She shoved him out of the way and started walking under the dock.

"C'mon, why do you have to be like that?" He asked with mock pain in his voice.

Marilee halted. Spinning around back in his direction, she asked, "Why do _you_ have to be like _that_?"

His smirk disappeared. "Whaddya mean?"

"You take every chance you get to treat the girls around here like pieces of meat, especially me." She glared at him, arms crossed.

"Don't take it personally, babe. I ju-" He was interrupted when Marilee charged over to him and twisted his arm behind his back in a painful position. He let out a effeminate screech and flinched.

"**Do not call me 'babe.'**" She commanded with a cold tone. He nodded and she released him. "I hate when guys like you treat me like crap. So just give it up."

She started walking away again, but Keith spoke up, saying something she wasn't expecting. "I'm sorry."

Marilee screeched to a halt, not turning around for a while. There was an awkward silence, the skater boy waiting for a response. He wasn't sure what she would do. Scream, cry, another crotch kick. She could be unpredictable.

She spun around and stared at him. She didn't seem angry, like usual. Just confused. "What… what did you say?"

Taking a deep breath, he repeated, "I'm sorry, okay? You know, for looking at your…" He didn't want to say something inappropriate and tick her off again, so he just gestured toward his chest, cupping his hands over them and creating fake breasts. "I… I just think you're pretty and, and I just couldn't help myself."

Marilee blinked, silent for several seconds. "Wow. Th-that seems kind of… out of character for you. To apologize."

Keith shrugged, sheepishly smiling. "It is, but I just don't want you to hate me anymore. I'd like a second chance at getting to know you. So is it cool if I look for Bridgette with you?"

She looked at her pink polished toenails, trying to think about what to do. She walked back over to him, staring him in the eye. With her normal hateful tone instead of her previous confused one, she squinted her eyes and whispered, "You get one more chance. Don't screw up." Marilee started walking in the opposite direction than she was before, thinking about searching in the woods.

Keith grinned a little, still planted in his spot, in a daze. Marilee turned around and looked at the back of his head, hands on her hips. "You coming or what, skater boy?"

He turned around, nodded, and ran up to her side.

Score.

*T*S*R*

Zack cupped his hands around his mouth, creating a makeshift megaphone and yelled out, "Selena! Where are you?" He searched in a few bushes, but found no Selena. He sighed and was about to give up searching that area, he heard some high pitched giggling. He wandered farther into the woods and found Selena out in a field of flowers, one he had never seen on the island before, not even during last season.

She had plopped down right in the middle of a daisy filled section and was pulling them out of the ground, tossing them high above her head and letting them fall gracefully down around her. There were a few daffodils stuck into her hair and she had created a chain of some unknown type of purple flower and turned it into a large necklace that would barely stay on her tiny frame. A huge smile was spread across her face and laughter was bubbling from her bubblegum glossed lips as the daisies fell and tickled her cheeks.

Zack couldn't help but grin, both at the fact that he found Selena and, well, just Selena herself. Even when she was wacked up on weirdo potions, she still looked cute.

The gamer slowly approached her, trying not to startle her, but the potion must have enhanced her hearing, because as soon as he stepped on one of the flowers by accident, she looked up. She grinned even bigger and bolted up, running toward him. "Zackie-kins!" She glommed on him, snuggling her face into the skull on the chest of his t-shirt.

A crimson blush crept on Zack's face from how close she was to him, but he placed his hands on her back, giving it a small rub. "Um, hey, Selena."

Releasing him from her death grip, Selena stood up again and giggled. "Hee hee, you look so cute today, Zack Attack!"

If his face was red before, it was probably almost purple by that point. "Uh, thanks. You wanna come back with me to ca-"

"Ugh, it's SO HOT OUT HERE!" Selena exclaimed, grabbing the bottom of her off the shoulder pink top, yanking it over her head and tossing it on the ground. It reality, it wasn't very hot out at all, but Zack chalked her heat flash up to the potion. Or maybe she was flirty crazy-style. Either way… She was wearing a small black tank top that was under her previous shirt. And one of the straps had fallen down.

Zack looked down at his feet, trying not to faint from all the blood that was rushing to his cheeks. "Uh, yeah. Look we really need to go-"

"Holy crap! Why's it so hot out here?" She pulled off her jean mini skirt, just leaving the tight black shorts she was wearing underneath them. She tossed them on top of her shirt and twirled a strand of pink and blonde hair.

Zack grabbed her by the wrist and mumbled, "C'mon, let's go…"

Just as he started to drag her away, she dug her heels into the ground and yelled, "WAIT!"

"WHAT?" he screamed. "What could you possibly want to do to torment my hormones now?"

A small, sly smile was on her face, "I just wanna give you a present…" She reached behind her back and started fumbling with something. Zack tried to make out what she was doing, but it looked to him like she was…

Unhooking something.

Sticking her hand down the back of her shirt, she pulled something out of it and flung it at Zack. "Happy Hanukah!" She laughed goofily, swaying from side to side.

He pulled the thing off of his chest and held it up. He almost fainted from what he saw.

Selena had taken off her light pink bra and it was now in his hands.

He let out a small scream and shoved the bra back into her hands. "Are you crazy?" He thought for a second, then realized that she WAS crazy. That was the point of the challenge. Duh. "Never mind. Just put your… thing back on and let's get out of here before anyone sees you like this."

"No!" Selena screeched, like a stubborn little kid and smacked her bra back in his left hand. "Not until we get to second base!"

"Wha?" Before he could protest, the crazy girl grabbed him right wrist and placed it on one of her breasts. Wrapping her free hand around his right hand, she bent his fingers, manually making him fondle her. "Honk honk!" she yelled as he 'squeezed' her, laughing even louder.

Poor Zack tried his hardest to pull away, but her grip on him was too strong. He had no choice but to let her make him fondle her.

This was probably the best and worst moment of his thirteen year old life.

Still, he continued to attempt escape. There was no way he wanted his sister to see him doing this. Or worse, her brother. God knows what Duncan would do to him if he saw this fondle fest.

*T*S*R*

Duncan had searched all around the cabins and the mess hall, but didn't find Selena. He figured she would have been in the mess hall, since she liked food and was currently crazy enough to eat all of Chef's, but turns out he was wrong.

The punk had gone into the woods, thinking she might be swinging on a vine or something. That's what Izzy would be doing, and she's pretty crazy. It was perfect logic.

"Come on out, cupcake!" Duncan called out in a sing-song voice, hoping his annoying little nickname for her would make her come out and complain about it, but no dice.

Sighing, he continued to trek into the woods. Suddenly, he heard some laughter. Very familiar laughter. "Selena?" He ran farther into the woods, coming upon a field of flowers that was very unfamiliar to him. He hid behind a tree, waiting a few seconds before he peeked over to see what was happening. He saw two figures close to the edge of the field. Leaning a little closer, he saw that it was his sister and Zack. He frowned, wondering what he was doing with her.

* * *

"I don't trust that Zack kid," Duncan stated, arms crossed. "He hangs out with Selena all the time and I can tell he's into her. He's a thirteen year old dude, and they only want one thing: action." He shook his head and continued, "Oh, and once, I saw him touch her." He threw his hands up exasperatedly in the air and asked, "I mean, does he WANT to get her pregnant?"

* * *

Duncan continued spying on them, almost exploding with anger at what he saw. They had turned at an angle so that Duncan could clearly see what was going on between them. Zack's hand was still on Selena's chest, squeezing it. And Selena was still controlling the action. Zack was still trying to break away, but to Duncan, it looked more like he was doing all the work and Selena was trying to pry his hand off. It didn't help that the gamer was still clutching her bra in his left hand.

Selena saw her older brother, so she released Zack's wrist, giggled a silly giggle and waved. "Hi, Duncan Donuts! You wanna watch Zack Attack here grope me?"

Zack looked up and his eyes almost bugged out of his head from seeing the uber furious Duncan standing a few mere feet away. "D-Duncan," he stuttered, his forehead starting to perspire in fear. With a mighty yank, he was finally free from Selena's groping grip. "I-I can totally explain all of this, man. Okay, so I-" But he never finished his sentence. He just screamed in fear and bolted as the punk charged toward him, determined to catch and kill him.

Selena stayed behind and watched them run away, her eyelids still in a relaxed position. She thrust her arm from side to side in an over exaggerated wave, as if they could see or care about her salutation. Still with a wide grin, she screeched, "Bye, Eva! Bye, Lindsay!" and happily skipped away.

*T*S*R*

"Bridge?" Geoff called out, wandering farther and farther into the woods. "Bridgette? Come out, babe!" He heard some bubbly laughter nearby, so he walked a few paces further. He came upon his girlfriend, high up in one of the trees, dangling from a sturdy branch. She was swinging from front to back, her legs neatly tucked underneath her and her ponytail flowing along with her. She was still laughing, her smile brightening up her entire face. Geoff couldn't help but smile at the sight. She was beautiful even when she was under the influence of Chris' messed up schemes. It was one of the many things that he loved about her.

The party boy was about to call out to her, but suddenly, she released herself from the branch, plummeting toward him. Before he had a chance to react, she landed smack on top of him, causing him to take a face plant into the dirt. "Hiya, Geoffy!" she giggled, rolling off of him.

He sat back up, rubbing his back where she fell on him. "Um… Hey, Bridgette. Look, can we just make this easy and you follow me back to camp?"

"M'kay," she agreed, bobbing her head up and down. He stood up and pulled her up with him, but she held him back as he tried to lead her away. "WAIT! I gots to tell you something!"

"What is it, Bridge?" he asked.

"Well…" she bit her lip, holding back a laugh. "Lately, I've b-been thinking…" she stuttered as she held back another laugh. "Okay, here's the funny part…" She didn't bother holding back her laughter this time.

Geoff was getting anxious, so he asked, "Babe just tell me what you need to tell me. I'll be cool with it." He grinned warmly at her.

"Okay, okay!" She let a few more giggles slip out before she yelled, "I WANNA BREAK UP!"

Geoff stood silent for a moment, his grin frozen on his face. He was acting as if he hadn't even heard her, or at least didn't understand what she was saying. After several more second, Geoff teetered back, falling flat on his back. He had officially fainted.

Bridgette blinked, picked up a stick, and poked him in the ribs. "Helloooooo?" she said, sing-songy. "You alive?" After getting no response, she shrugged, stepped over him, and ran off, leaving the unconscious Geoff alone to wake up confused and heartbroken.

* * *

SNAP ON A CRACKER! :O Will Zack survive Duncan's overprotective wrath? Will Marilee and Keith be able to work together? Will Geoff ever find out why Bridgette broke up with him? Why isn't Jamal allowed to talk this episode? Find out in the next chapter of TOTAL SIBLING RIVALRY!


	12. Day 3, Part 2: Super Glue Tastes Great

This is probably my fastest update ever. Huzzah :D No interns again :C But I guarantee that they'll be in the next chapter. :D

No particularly proud of this chapter. I just hope you guys don't hate it. And don't worry, peeps! Zack survives! I wouldn't make Duncan totally kill him. At least not yet. -shot-

Disclaimers bore me. Please just remember to read, review, and enjoy!

* * *

His head and pits damp with sweat, Zack continued to bolt across the island, a protective Duncan on his heels. He was almost too afraid to look back, but he still did. He had to know how Duncan looked. When he did, though, he wished he hadn't. Duncan's face was scrunched in fury and his steel blue eyes were dead set on him, determined to catch him no matter what.

When Zack refocused his attention on the path ahead of him, he screeched to a halt. He had no idea that they had been running so far, since the punk had chased the gamer all the way to the other side of the island, on the thousand foot tall cliff. Zack heavily caught his breath, peering over the edge of the cliff. He had no idea how his sister worked up the courage to jump off of it. It was making him queasy just looking at the dive down.

He finally turned around to look at Duncan, mainly because he was surprised that he hadn't brutally murdered him by that point. The seventeen year old's fists were so tightly balled up, Zack swore that he saw a vein popping out on one of his knuckles. But that one couldn't even compare to the one that was bulging on his sweaty, red forehead. They were about ten feet away from each other, but both stood in silence, except for their loud, exhausted panting. After taking a few more seconds to catch his breath, Zack finally spoke up and said, "Duncan, dude, I can totally explain what happened back there."

"Don't waste your breath," Duncan barked, pushing one of the long sleeves to his shirt up. "I got a pretty good view of what you were doing." He pushed the other sleeve up, and Zack could tell he was preparing himself for the upcoming pummeling.

He quickly shook his head and held his hands up defensively. "No, you don't understand! Selena was-"

"Under the influence of one of Chris' retarded schemes," Duncan interrupted, slowly making his way toward the younger boy, "So you decided to take advantage of her." As he got closer, Zack knew there was no escape, since he was barely on the edge of the cliff.

"No, no, I would never do that!" Zack cringed as Duncan was barely two inches away from him, staring him down. His hands were still held up defensively, as if that would protect him from Selena's scary big brother.

"Yeah, that explains why you did it," Duncan growled, grabbing him by his green scull t-shirt and he let out a yelp as Duncan lifted him completely over his head. He let out several pleas to be released, but they fell upon silent ears. "Let this be a lesson to you, you little twerp," the punk silently said. He took several steps closer to the edge and looked at the rocky waters below. Shutting his eyes in anger, his volume heightened and he yelled, "NOBODY MESSES WITH MY SISTER!" With a grunt, he harshly tossed Zack off and watched as he flailed around and screamed. After he heard a splash, he smirked, dusted his hands off and walked away.

Zack's screams were still echoing on the cliff walls.

*T*S*R*

Deep in the woods, Keith wiped the sweat off his forehead, looking at what he and his new partner had just set up. He proudly grinned, and turned back to Marilee, who was testing one of the knots on the ropes for their creation. "Well, was this a great idea or not?"

Rolling her bright blue eyes, she stood up and dusted off her hands. "We'll see whether or not it was when we catch Bridgette." The two stepped back and looked at what they had just set up.

Referring back to last season's survival episode, Keith suggested they set up a trap to catch the crazy surfer girl. He knew how to make a net trap that would catch Bridgette the second she stepped on it and Marilee slowly agreed to give it a shot. They had taken some rope from the Arts and Crafts Center and created the net and the ropes that would pull the net upward and close it with little chance of escape. The duo made sure to cover the net with stray leaves and twigs and to hide the ropes as best as they could.

"Are you sure this will work, Keith?" Marilee asked, tossing another twig onto the hidden net.

"Sure, it will. We used top-" He paused and took a surprised glance at her.

She arched an eyebrow and asked, "What?"

"Did… Did you just call me 'Keith'?"

She crossed her arms and looked at him, wondering what his point was. "Yes. That's you name. What's it to you?"

"Well," He awkwardly scratched the back of his head and continued, "You usually just call me 'skater boy' or 'pervert' or 'my brother's girlfriend's greasy-haired, girl-obsessed little brother' or-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Marilee interrupted, casually shrugging. "But that was before I gave you a second chance. I figure you deserve a second chance for me to call you by your first name, too."

"…Okay." Keith grinned. "Cool." He turned back to look at the pile of debris covering their work and said, "So, anyway, it'll totally work." Suddenly, the sound of distant footsteps could be heard crunching closer toward them. "She's coming!" He whispered, grabbing Marilee by her wrist and dragging her into a nearby bush. They each squatted down, listening as the steps got closer and closer to the trap. The snap of a rope was heard, signaling them that the perpetrator had been caught. The trapped camper screamed, though it didn't sound quite like Bridgette's scream. "Yes, we caught her!" The two rushed out of the bush so they could release Bridgette and take her back to camp, but were met with a different face looking down at them from the net.

"**Owen**?"

Owen looked at them, confused by what had just happened. He stuck his meaty arm out of one of the holes in the net and waved at them. "Hi, guys." He let out his signature laugh and asked, "Um, how did I get up here?"

Marilee looked from Owen to Keith, giving him a glare. He sheepishly grinned and shrugged. "At least it worked."

She scoffed and pointed up at the portly boy dangling above them. "Big, freaking deal! You caught _**Owen**_! _I_ could have done that with a snickerdoodle and a handful of corn chips!"

"Oooooh," Owen moaned happily, his mouth salivating at the description. "That sounds great! Could you get me some?"

They ignored the two hundred and ninety six pound teen and Keith told her, "It would have worked if Bridgette had walked into it!"

Shaking her head, Marilee said, "You know what, never mind. Let's just catch her the old fashioned way. Come on." She motioned for him to follow her, but he grabbed her wrist, making her stop. "Wait!" He pointed up to Owen and asked, "Shouldn't we help him down?"

The fashionista looked up at Owen's sad face, her expression blank. She looked at Keith again and shrugged. "He isn't on our team."

The skater boy thought for a second and nodded. "True." He started walking with her, yelled "Good luck, buddy!" over his shoulder, and the duo disappeared from sight.

Owen let out a sad yell as he squirmed around, trying to break free from the net. He stopped for a second, looking around. He yelled, "Does that mean I'm not getting my snickerdoodle and corn chips?"

*T*S*R*

Geoff awoke from his unconscious slumber and rubbed his head. He got quite a bump from the fall he took when he fainted. "Wha? Wh-what happened?" All the memories of what had just happened flooded in his mind and he gasped. "Bridgette!" He stood up and frantically turned his head this way and that, looking for her. Even though he could tell she was long gone, he still screamed, "What do you mean you want to break up? Bridgette?" The party boy started running in a random direction and continued to scream things that he thought would make her take him back.

"I can change, Bridge! Really!"

"Is it because I told you your ponytail looks like a big banana yesterday? I'm sorry!"

"If it's my breath, I'll buy some stronger toothpaste!"

"It's because I forgot to tell my mom you were a vegetarian that one time you came over for dinner and she made a meatloaf, isn't it? C'mon, at least she made a salad, too!"

Despite Geoff's yells of apology, the surfer girl didn't pop out and automatically forgive him. After a while, he just gave up and sat down by a shady tree. He clutched his throbbing head and panted heavily, his mind boggling at the fact that his girlfriend had just dumped him. Staring down at his sandals, he thought about what had just recently happened.

* * *

"How could she dump me like that?" Geoff asked the Confession Can camera, obviously trying to hold back tears. "If she wanted to break up, that would have been fine! But it would have been nice to not have to hear that news when she was all wacked out on Chris' wacko elixir, you know?"

* * *

Tears were brimming up in Geoff's eyes as he continued to stare at his feet, barely able to stomach looking at anything else. He had never felt this kind of sadness before. Of course he had been sad before, just not this badly. His heart felt so terrible, like it had literally been broken in half by Bridgette's hyper break up. All his life, whenever Geoff had been hurting, he just thought of something positive about the situation to cheer himself up at little bit. This had worked during numerous depressing occasions, like his parents' divorce, and even during his cancer-stricken uncle's funeral. With his parents, it was that his mom and dad were both finally happy after years of disagreements and arguments. Not to mention the fact that he and his siblings were glad they didn't have to get in the middle of their fighting. His uncle had been in pain for almost two years from his cancer, and he was finally comfortable. That was the positive point to that.

But no matter how hard Geoff tried, he couldn't find the silver lining in his current cloud.

No longer caring about his pride, Geoff let his heartbroken tears quietly slide.

*T*S*R*

Candace's feet were tired from walking around so much, so she went to find a place to rest. She went toward the campfire pit, where there were plenty of seats for her to pick from. She was pretty surprised to see Cody there, too, sitting on the stump closest to Chris' oil drum. "Hi, Cody!" she perkily greeted, taking a seat next to him.

He looked up at her, giving her a small gap-toothed grin. "Hey, Candace. What's up?"

"Oh, I just wanted to take a break." She looked at the items in Cody's hand and asked, "Ooooh, what are those?"

Glancing down at the items, he said, "Just a few cupcakes from Owen's new secret stash."

"Really?" Candace cocked her head slightly. "I thought only me and Izzy knew where that was."

Cody shrugged and replied, "Well, he showed it to Zoey, too. And then she told everybody with a pulse."

Candace nodded in understanding and Cody asked, "You want one?"

"Sure! Thanks!" She grinned even bigger as Cody placed one in her hand. She took a big bite and sighed happily. "So you have any luck finding Selena?"

The techno geek shook his head. "Nope. You?"

"None." An idea formed in her usually empty head and she decided to give it a shot. "Maybe we'd be more likely to find her if we searched as a team."

Cody nodded, liking the idea. "Yeah, that sounds cool. I think everybody else has pretty much done that, anyway."

After finishing their cupcakes, the two stood up. "So, where do you wanna start?" Candace asked.

Cody scratched his head, deep in thought. "Um… I don't think anybody's looked around the Arts and Craft center yet. Wanna start there?"

"Sure!" The newly formed duo made their way toward said center, while Cody thought, _Helloooooo, Gwen Replacement!_

*T*S*R*

Selena bounced toward the Bears cabin, where she noticed that Courtney was searching for her.

At that point, Selena would have gone into the Confession Can to complain about the ways that Courtney annoyed her, but the elixir had somehow erased her memory of where the outhouse was.

She made sure the former CIT didn't notice her hiding near the side of the cabin, bent down, and grabbed a small rock. She thrust it in Courtney's direction and it hit her square in the back of her head. The pink lover cackled wildly as Courtney frantically looked around, yelling her demands to know who did it. She heard Selena's loud laughter and quickly found her hiding spot. "There you are, you little brat!" She grabbed Selena by her arm and dragged her over to a nearby picnic table, pushing her onto the seat and glaring at her. "What do you have against me?"

Selena, acting surprisingly calm, even under her circumstances, crossed her arms over her braless chest and told her, "You think you're so superior to everyone, don't you?" Courtney couldn't think of a response, so the crazy girl kept going. "You think you're way too good for my brother, but in reality, _he's_ way too good for _you_!" Returning back to her crazier state, she giggled and added, "And your freckles are silly looking!"

Courtney stared at her, mouth agape at her comment. "Duncan? Too good for _me_? How on Earth do you figure that?"

"He may be mean to people sometimes, but at least when he is, he has a reason to," she commented, yanking at her own hair. "You're just mean because you're a total cow."

"I am not mean!" she screeched, , stomping her foot. "I'm a-"

"Yeah, yeah," Selena waved her hand nonchalantly, bored with her brother's girlfriend, but still goofily grinning. "You were a CIT. Sing a new song, why don't you?"

"I was going to say that I'm a perfectly nice person, thank you very much," Courtney snootily replied, crossing her arms angrily.

"Whatever, Prissy Pants," Selena giggled, standing up. "I still think my big bro could do better than you. Like a blood-thirsty bear or a coconut."

Courtney ignored her weird but harsh reply and grabbed her wrist, dragging her toward the campfire pit. Selena tried to break free, but Courtney's grip was pretty strong. Trying to think of a way to escape, Selena pointed to their left with her free hand and yelled, "Look, Duncan's flirting with LeShawna!"

"What?" Courtney released her due to her shock and looked at the direction she had pointed toward. As hard as she looked, she still couldn't see her boyfriend or the loud sister. Coming to her senses, she turned around to find that Selena had disappeared. It had been a trick! She grunted in frustration and kicked a nearby clump of dirt.

Trent and Gwen came rushing toward her, screeching to a halt. "Where's Selena?" Gwen asked, looking around for the girl. "We thought we saw her with you."

"She tricked me and escaped," Courtney embarrassingly and angrily admitted, looking down at her feet. Her hands curled into fists and she threatened, "I swear, when I get my hands on that little-"

"Woah, Courtney, calm down," Trent said, holding up his hands. "I know what she said to you at breakfast wasn't exactly nice, but it's not like she meant to say it."

The brunette looked up at the musician and glared at him. "So you're trying to tell me you're not the least bit mad at her for calling you Senor Butt Chin?"

Trent shrugged. "It was kind of embarrassing, but I know she would never say it out loud if Chris hadn't given her that elixir. It's the same with what she said to you."

"Yeah," Gwen agreed, touching her boyfriend's arm slightly as she added, "And it's not like everybody else has never thought that about you…" Seeing Courtney's glare, she quieted down. "Sorry." She shrugged. "Just trying to make you feel better about it."

"Well, you didn't," Courtney snapped, turning away from them. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to find my boyfriend's twerp of a sister…" She walked off and Gwen and Trent slowly backed away, not wanting to deal with her and her bad mood anymore.

*T*S*R*

"Um… Hello?" Owen called out, hoping help would come. He had been dangling for a while and he was getting restless up in the itchy, leaf and twig-filled net. "C'mon, help me out here!" He wiggled around and made the net sway back and forth. "Hello? Hello!"

He heard quiet footsteps, sounding like they ere coming from two small beings. It was revealed to be Zoey and Grace when they walked under him, carrying several sugary treats in their hands. Grace had chocolate smeared around her mouth along with a giant chocolate bar in her hand and Zoey had tied the ends of several red licorice whips together to make a huge necklace and was also sporting a few licorice bracelets and holding a few free ones in her hands. They were too busy eating to notice Owen.

"Are you sure it was a good idea to take this much candy from Owen's secret stash?" Zoey asked, looking worried.

"Of course it was!" Grace reassured her, taking another bite of her giant chocolate bar. "It's not like he's gonna miss it. He's kinda dumb."

"Hey, I got straight C's last school year!" Owen protested, making the net wave even more.

Zoey screamed in fright and clung onto her evil counterpart, both making sure they still had a good grip on their goodies. "A ghost!" she screamed and looked around wildly.

Grace rolled her dark brown eyes and pried Zoey off of her. "Don't be silly." She took a few more nibbles of the chocolate and told her, "It's obviously an invisible ninja. You'd still be able to _see_ a ghost. Duh!"

"I'm not a ghost or an invisible ninja!" Owen cried out. "Look up!"

They obeyed the mysterious voice and looked upward, seeing the plump boy dangling above them. "Oh, hi, Owen!" She waved and held up the hand with the licorice in it. "Want some?"

"You know I do, but I'm kinda stuck," Owen explained as he dug around in his pocket. "I need you guys to cut me down!" He pulled a Swiss army knife out of his pocket and tossed it down. It landed right in front of them.

Even though the blade was inside of it, Grace and Zoey looked at it like it would spontaneously spring to life and bite them. "But, Owen, I'm not allowed to play with knives!" Zoey told him, shaking her head no.

"Fine, you do it then, Grace!"

"No can do!" Grace yelled up at him, not looking guilty at all. "My daddy says I'm not allowed to use knives, either!"

"Oh, come on!" Owen screamed. "You attacked Cody and gave him a black eye!"

"Yes," Grace admitted, taking a pause for dramatic effect. "But note how I didn't do it with a knife." She finished off her chocolate bar and grabbed Zoey's hand, dragging her away. Before they were out of earshot, she yelled over her shoulder, "Ask someone bigger to help you!"

Owen was silent for a minute until he silently mumbled, "Man, this sucks. I can't even go to the Confession Can to talk about how much this sucks!" He let out a loud, depressed wail and slumped.

"And I'm hungry."

*T*S*R*

Marilee and Keith had wandered around the woods for quite some time, but still found no Bridgette. They tried begging, bribing, and even threatening. Well, Marilee threatened. But even that didn't make the surfer girl appear.

But after a while, they heard some small crying sounds. "Did you hear that?" Marilee asked, heading closer toward the noise.

"Yeah. You think it's Bridge?"

She didn't answer at first until she hid behind a bush and peeked out over it to find out what the source of the crying was. "No," she told him. "It's…" She walked around the bush and toward the person that was crying, now practically wailing. "Geoff?" Keith was shocked by this, so he followed and saw that it was indeed Geoff.

He was laying under a giant oak in the fetal position, rocking back in forth and bawling. Keith had expected Marilee to make fun of how childlike and weak her older brother was acting, but she surprised him. She knelled down next to him, rubbed him lightly on his shoulder and gently asked him, "What's wrong, Geoff?"

Geoff stopped rocking and the bawling had stopped, but he didn't respond to her question for a few quiet moments. After a while, though, he got up and groggily said, "Br-Bridgette dumped me!"

Marilee's newfound gentle look was replaced with one of rage and she sprung back up. "She dumped you? She waited to do a serious thing until she turned into Crazy Girl?" She clenched her fists and her brows scrunched angrily. "Oh, that trampy, sleazy, skank ho of a-"

"Um," Keith waved a hand, reminding her of his presence. "She's still my sister, you know."

She calmed down, but her expression was unimpressed. "That's not my fault." Bending back down over Geoff, she grabbed his arm and started pulling him up. "C'mon, up you go, Geoffy." She struggled at first since he was cooperating, but she finally got him up on his feet.

With a sniffle, Geoff sighed. "Okay, okay, I'm up."

"You wanna help us find Bridgette?" Keith asked, hoping that would cheer the sad party boy up.

Geoff's eyes widened, filling with tears. "Br-Br-Bridgette!" He plopped back down on the ground and curled up again, rocking back and forth, screaming muffled cries into his knees.

They both stared at him, Keith looking guilty for bringing her up. As Geoff continued to wail, Marilee looked at Keith, miffed. "Nice going, genius."

*T*S*R*

Trent and Gwen, who had decided a while ago to ignore Duncan's orders and grouped up to find their wacky teammate, were taking a break. They had found a nice, sunny spot on the beach, with a great view of the ocean. It was actually kind of pretty in the right light.

Just as they were about to share a kiss, Gwen saw something emerging from that water that made her gasp in fright. "What the heck is that?"

Trent squinted, but the thing was too far away for him to see. "I don't know." He grabbed a big piece of driftwood that was nearby, preparing to defend him and his girlfriend with it. "I'll handle it, babe. You just wait here." He wandered closer to the shore, getting ready to attack. As the creature reached the shore, Trent held the driftwood high above his head, letting out a battle-like cry. The thing screamed, and covered it's face with it's arms, bracing itself for the hit. Just as Trent as about to hit it, he took a better look at it and dropped his weapon. "Zack? Dude, is that you?"

"What?" Gwen ran over to the two and saw that it was indeed her little brother. Duncan's toss had thrown the gamer into a large mass of seaweed and it had stuck to him, pretty much covering every part of his body except for his face. "What happened to you?"

Zack's face looked very frustrated. And wet. "I. Don't. Want. To talk about it." With that, he stormed off to remove the salty seaweed from his body.

Trent and Gwen exchanged a confused look, shrugged, and walked in the opposite direction to find Selena.

*T*S*R*

Duncan decided to search the woods again, since his sister seemed to particularly like hiding there. As he wandered farther and farther, he heard… music? "What the…?" He followed the tunes until he came upon a partially barren part of the forest. He found Selena, twirling three hula hoops on her waist, with Britney Spear's _Womanizer_ blaring away. "What are you doing? Where'd you get the hula hoops? A-And where's that music coming from?" There was no stereo nearby and it wasn't coming from Chris' intercom.

Selena looked around, shrugged, and grunted something that sounded like 'I dunno.'

Duncan shook his head and mumbled, "Whatever." He walked over to her, grabbed her hoops in mid-spin, and yanked them over her head, tossing them aside. As if like magic, the music screeched to a halt.

"Hey!" Selena shrieked, stomping her feet childishly. "I was using those!"

"I don't care," Duncan barked. He grabbed her by her wrist and dragged her away. She was cooperating strangely well. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Duncan asked, "And what was up with that poser stuff? You know, back at the lodge?"

Selena dug her heels into the ground and stopped them both. Duncan turned around to face her as she talked. With a giggle, she told him, "'Cause you're always trying to be all tough all the time, but deep down, you're like a marshmallow; a big gooey goo ball!" She bounced up and down for a few seconds while Duncan's expression flashed to one of fury.

Duncan got a tighter, more painful grip on her wrist and glared at her angrily. "I am not gooey," he growled.

Selena laughed right in his face, making him flinch a little at her loudness. "Pul-leeze!" she scoffed, sticking her tongue goofily out of the corner of her mouth as she did. "If you weren't a good guy deep down, then why would you care so much about Zackie-kins giving me a lil' squeezey squeeze? Huh?"

Duncan's expression softened a bit, for he knew he couldn't actually answer her honestly without admitting that she was right. "Yep." Selena smirked. "That's what I thought."

* * *

"I am not soft," Duncan stated, crossing his arms. "Got it? Okay, just wanted to clear things up." He sat in the same position, motionless for a few seconds, as if he didn't know what to do next. Then he reached toward the camera, trying to find a certain button. "How do you turn this thing off again?"

* * *

The punk's expression returned to it's usual scowl and he continued to drag her away, until his foot stopped him. "What did I just step in?" He released Selena and yanked on his leg, but to no avail. He heard laughter behind him and he turned around and found out that it was, no surprise, Selena. "What do you do?" he silently growled, reaching out to pull her toward him to fill her with some fear, but she had wandered too far away for him to reach.

"I knew you and the rest of the team were going to try and catch me, so I set some traps!" She stuck her tongue out at him, which made him struggle to grab her more. She pulled out a jar filled with white gooiness. "I smeared some of this sticky mayonnaise I took from Chef all over the ground in random places!"

Selena tossed the jar at her brother, and he luckily caught it. Twisting the container around so that the label was facing him, he read the label and angrily told her, "This is **Super Glue**, you idiot!" He threw it back at her, and she clumsily caught it.

"Whatevs," she laughed. Twisting the lid off the jar, she stuck her hand in the jar and took a heaping handful. "It still tastes great!" She shoveled the glue into her mouth and miraculously swallowed it.

With a final childish cackle, she ran off, glue jar still in her hands. But before she was out of earshot, she yelled, "Oh, by the way, I told Trent you cry whenever you watch ET!" She bolted, not even seeing Duncan yanking on his leg more viciously than ever, determined to catch her. And strangle her to death.

Yeah. He was a real softie.

*T*S*R*

After another half hour of crying, Geoff finally agreed to get up and look for Bridgette with Keith and Marilee. "You feeling any better, Geoff?" Marilee asked as they made their way toward the mess hall. "Now that you're up and about?"

"No," Geoff bluntly said, playing with a loose thread on his shirt to keep himself from crying again.

She sighed and looked at Keith, angering. "This is all your fault!"

"What?" Keith yelled, "How is this **my** fault?"

Marilee sighed again, steaming down. "It isn't. I'm just used to saying that to people."

They had reached the area between the mess hall and the cabins and paused. The skater boy looked around, then luckily noticed something. "Dudes, look!" He pointed over to the campfire pit and the rest of the group immediately knew what he was pointing at. Bridgette was in the campfire pit, standing on top of Chris' oil drum, dancing around stupidly, even though there wasn't any music.

"Yes! We'll win for sure!" Marilee happily shouted, dragging the guys toward the surfer girl, getting ready to claim their victory.

*T*S*R*

Zack had successfully cleaned himself off and walked in no particular direction, muttering curses at his friend's older brother. After a while of walking around and not realizing where he was, he discovered that he had wandered to yet another unfamiliar location. And a very weird one. There was a giant, building smack in the middle of a wide, open field. It wasn't rustic like the dinky little cabins; it was practically futuristic looking. A brightly lit sign next to it revealing that it was Chris', Chef's and the interns' secret location. "Not exactly subtle, Chris…" Zack mumbled, walking closer to the building.

He saw something on top of the building, almost making him faint.

Selena was on top of the six story building, on the very edge, teetering back and forth.

* * *

Sniz-ap! Another cliffhanger! Haha, sorry 'bout that, folks. Thought it would be more… dramatic.

But what's in store for our siblings next? Will Selena survive? Will Duncan get his foot unstuck? Will Geoff confront Bridgette about the break up? Will Owen ever escape? Will Selena put her bra back on? Find out the answers to all these and more on **TOTAL SIBLING RIVALRY!**


	13. Day 3, Part 3: Didn't See That Coming!

At over 7000 words, this is my longest chapter yet… X_X

Oh, and there's a poll on my profile page if anyone's interested. I'd really like to know what you guys think about it…

http:// themightypen . deviantart . com/ And here's my DeviantArt page if anybody's interested in seeing some of my TSR drawings. Just remove the spaces to get to the page. I think there's even a few just TDI drawings in there… *shot for sounding like an needy advertisement*

But overall, I am really, REALLY happy with this chapter. And I promise, next chapter will not be entirely focused on these characters. Next challenge will have much more dialogue from the other campers. Cuz honestly, I'm feeling like Selena and Marilee are kind of being attention whores… XP

Chef finally talks in this chapter, but he isn't very Chef-like… sorry. XC

This chapter actually has it's first really bad word in it. (The B word… the one that means a child born out of wed lock, if you get meh drift…) But it's coming from Duncan, so what do you expect?

TDI. Not mine. Siblings. Mine.

Anyway, read, review, and enjoy! :D

* * *

Zack's heart raced as he saw Selena standing on the edge of the roof. He stood motionless and he had no idea what to do. She noticed that he was below her, so she waved and yelled, "Hiya, Zackie-kins! Can you see up my nose from down there?"

Completely ignoring her question, he yelled, "Selena, you're going to hurt yourself! Get down from there!"

"Okay!" She squatted, and he could tell that she was preparing to jump down.

"No! Not like that!" Zack screamed, pulling his baseball cap down over his eyes in panic. "Never mind, I'll just come up there and get you!" He raced toward the door and yanked on the handle. To his shock, it wasn't locked. Not that he was complaining.

The inside of the building was pretty nice. Expensive looking artwork was hanging around, and the floors even looked like they were made of marble! Not that he expected Chris McClean to live anywhere less fancy than that. But Zack had no time to admire the décor. He ran toward the nearest flight of steps, bolting up them as fast as he could. By the time he was on the second level, he ran into a robe clad, brown haired girl carrying several scented candles, a lighter, and a bottle of bubble bath. Her green eyes narrowed when she saw that it was him. "What are _you_ doing here?"

He nervously waved at her, trying to bear a grin. "Uh… Hi, Mia. I-I was just-"

She interrupted him by barking, "Aren't you supposed to be doing your stupid little challenge?"

"Well… Aren't you supposed to be… interning stuff?"

Her icy glare melted, realizing that he had a point. She was supposed to be testing out the next challenge with the other interns, but snuck off to take a nice, hot bubble bath in privacy. "I won't tell if you won't."

"Deal," he agreed, running off before she could add anything else.

*T*S*R*

Duncan sighed in defeat and sat down on a nearby rock. He was tired, angry, and only had one shoe on. He had finally gotten smart and slipped his stuck shoe off, so his left sock was now covered in the forest's dirt. "Man, that kid's more trouble than she's worth…" he mumbled, wiping off his sweaty forehead with his sleeve.

Nearby, Trent was wandering around alone, since Gwen had gone off by herself to find Zack. There was no sign of Selena, but he did hear Duncan grumbling. "Duncan?" he called out, "Is that you, man?"

Trent walked past a cluster of trees and saw the delinquent on his rock. Duncan looked up, saw his friend, and simmered down a bit. "Hey, dude." He got up and walked toward him. "Any luck?"

Trent knew what he was talking about immediately and shook his head. "Haven't caught her yet." He looked down and noticed his lack of left shoe. "Where's your shoe?"

His expression angered a bit again. "I don't wanna talk about it."

"I've been hearing that a lot today…"

Duncan put his hands behind his head and looked up at the clear, blue sky. "I don't know what else to do, man. I've done everything I can think of to catch her. It's impossible, what with her acting even weirder than usual…"

"I know." Trent stuffed his hands in his pocket. "I mean, it's like she's a big preschooler or something."

Both let out a little laugh and Duncan added, "Yeah, too bad nobody else around here has a little girl's brain."

Both boys laughed a little louder and a little longer this time, their chuckles echoing throughout the forest area. As they calmed down, their laughter faded. A few more laughs slipped from their lips, they became quiet and it stayed that way for a while. Duncan and Trent stood in the silence, thinking about what they just said. As if both of their minds clicked at the same time, they exchanged a look of realization and Duncan said, "We've gotta find Zoey and Grace."

Trent just nodded in agreement and followed Duncan as he ran off in search of their little sisters.

*T*S*R*

Owen sighed for about the millionth time since he had been trapped up in that cursed net. Or maybe for the billionth. He had lost count.

It's not like he had anything better to do than to count his own sighs of exasperation. He had been trapped for hours and had foolishly tossed his pocket knife down to the non-helpful Zoey and Grace when he could have just as easily done it himself. He had realized that after a while, but it did him no good at that current moment. His knife was on the ground, and he wasn't.

"I'm STARVING!" Owen moaned, pounding his fists against the sturdy ropes. "I'm so hungry, I could ride a horse…" The trapped teen took a second to think about what he said, since something didn't sound right about it. "Wait, I think I messed that one up. Well, maybe I could ride the horse to the mess hall…" he nodded. "Yeah, yeah, that makes sense."

Owen yanked on the ropes for no particular reason, then inspected one of them. "Hmm… These ropes look kinda like spaghetti…" Flopping himself over, he nibbled on one of the robes that was originally underneath him.

"Mmm…" he happily moaned. "Not bad…"

*T*S*R*

After seeing the loopy Bridgette boogie on the oil drum, Marilee had successfully tackled her to the ground, and Geoff and Keith had pinned her arms and legs down. The trio had then carried her over to one of the stumps, sat her down, and Geoff kept a firm grip on her wrists.

"When do you think this stupid elixir will wear off?" Marilee asked, smacking Bridgette's leg away from her after she had playfully kicked her.

Bridgette blinked a few times, the last blink flashing her usual green shade. She gripped her head as if she had a huge migraine and looked around "Wha? W-where am I?"

"I'm guessing right now," Keith answered, taking his grip off of his sister's other leg.

Bridgette took a look at Geoff and her eyes widened. She must have remembered what happened a few hours ago.

Marilee looked at her brother's face, too. It was very strained, and she could tell he was trying not to express the real emotions he was feeling inside. They needed to talk, and she knew it.

"Um…" she started, looking around for a distraction. "I have to go to the bathroom." She started walking and motioned for the skater boy to follow. "Come with me, Keith."

"What? Why?"

She stopped and turned back around to look at him. "Because girls never go to the bathroom alone."

"Yeah… But they go with _other_ girls."

Marilee, getting impatient, grabbed his ear and yanked him away with her. He let out several yelps of pain and she muttered, "I'll explain on the way. And I'll say it slowly and use small words so you'll understand…"

After their siblings disappeared, Bridgette and Geoff exchanged an awkward glance, knowing the talk that would soon be coming up would be very, very difficult.

*T*S*R*

"Do you think that maybe instead of looking for two people to help us look for Selena," Trent started, coming back out from behind the tree he was searching behind and continued, "We should just be looking for her ourselves?"

"No, trust me, bro," Duncan said, popping out from a bush he had been searching through. "Those two are our key to victory. They have mellower versions of her brain. There's no doubt that we'll win."

The two decided to go to the Killer Bears cabin to see if they were there. Trent peeked into the window on the girl's side, but it was empty inside. However, just as they were about to give up, they heard some high pitched screams and squeals coming from the boy's side. When both ran over, Duncan kicked the door open. They were both shocked by what they saw.

Grace was literally bouncing off of the walls, and even a few beds when she went past them. Her hyper screams bounced off the walls along with her. Zoey was sitting on one of the bottom bunks, drinking a small eight ounce can of soda and watching her friend.

The two boys walked over to her, Trent having to duck when Grace almost took his eye out with her foot. "Zoey, what happened to my sister?" Trent asked, nervously watching as the giggly little brunette ran around rapidly in a giant circle in the middle of the floor.

Zoey just shrugged, got onto her feet and set her now empty soda can next to a pile of candy wrappers discarded onto the floor. "I dunno. We just had some candy from Owen's stash."

"It looks like she ate the whole dang thing," Duncan commented as he watched Grace's craziness in amusement.

"How much did she have exactly?" Trent asked.

"Uh…" Zoey picked the wad of candy wrappers on the ground up and handed it to Trent. "However many this is."

Trent quickly rifled through the wad, counting it as quickly as he could. Reaching the last wrapper, he dropped them all. "**TWELVE**? She had** TWELVE **chocolate bars?"

"And three Red Bulls?" Duncan asked, pointing toward the thin cans that had been next to the wrappers.

"Yeah…" Zoey nodded guiltily. "But I don't know why she's goin' bonkers. I had as much as she did and I feel fine." Almost immediately after she finished that sentence, her face began to turn a sickly shade of green and she ran toward the open window. She poked her head out and it was obvious that by the sounds she was making that she was throwing up. Pulling herself back out, she gripped her aching stomach and looked back up at Trent and Duncan's unimpressed faces. "See? I'm just dandy!"

"Oh, man," Trent held his head in his hand, frustrated. "What am I gonna do? How the heck am I gonna get her to calm down?"

Duncan scratched his chin and suggested, "I think Izzy still has that tranquilizer gun from last year. She'll probably let you borrow it."

He looked back up at the punk angrily. "I'm being serious, Duncan!"

"…So am I."

Grace, as if noticing his and Duncan's presences for the first time, squealed and jumped up onto Trent so they were at eye level, which was impressive, since it was a high jump. She planted her feet firmly on his chest and got a grip on his left arm so she wouldn't fall. "OhmigoshhiTrent!" she speedily babbled, "HowyadoingI'mdoinggoodthanksforaskingmanI'msofullofenergyrightnowIfeellikeIcouldfly!" She continued to chatter at a mile a minute, while Trent just confusedly stared at her, noticing how much she was shaking.

Trent grabbed her in attempts to get her to calm down, but all it did was make her quiet down. "Okay, Grace, we need your and Zoey's help to find Selena. You two are the only ones who can help us. Just try and calm down. Can you do that for me?"

"Yeahyeahyeah!" She nodded like a bobble head, jumped out of Trent's arms and bolted out the door, laughing like a hyena.

"Grace!" Trent yelled, running after her. "That is NOT calm!"

The remaining siblings watched as the other two ran off and exchanged a glance. Jerking a thumb toward the path they had taken, Duncan smirked and said, "Wow, it sucks to be him, huh?" He looked back to watch Trent run, only to hear a small gagging sound and feel something soggy and warm covering his shoeless foot. He looked down, seeing that his sock was now not only covered in dirt, but his littlest sister's barf. "Ugh, Zoey!"

"Sorry!"

"Aw, man… it sucks to be me, too."

*T*S*R*

Selena was still teetering on the edge of the secret hideout, peering down at the ground below. Just as she did, Cody and Candace walked by. "Man, I'm starting to think we'll never find her," Cody whined, looking around at his eye level, not even noticing Selena being right above him.

"C'mon, Cody, think positive!" Candace reassured him with a smile. "For all we know, she might be right under our noses!"

"Or above your heads!"

Both looked up, gasping in horror at the sight above them. "Ah! Get down from there before you kill yourself!" Cody yelled.

"Make me, scrawny boy!" she yelled back down.

"Oh, like I haven't heard that one before…"

"Don't worry, guys! My brave and handsome Zackie-kins is coming to rescue me!"

"Brave?"

"Handsome?"

"Zackie-kins?" Both Candace and Cody mumbled, exchanging a glance.

* * *

"Selena and Zack?" Candace pondered. "Awww, they would make such a cute couple!" she cooed, clasping her hands together happily.

* * *

As if on cue, Zack came bursting through the door that lead to the roof, but didn't really run over to Selena immediately. "Selena, please get off of there," he begged, looking ever more nervous than he had before.

She turned around and flintily smirked. "Come over here and get me."

With his patience thinning, he yelled, "I'm not in the mood! Just get over here!"

Selena giggled for a while, but suddenly started to look less chipper, closing her eyes and clutching her head in her hands. She groaned in pain and looked back up at Zack with a confused expression. Her purple eyes had changed back to their original steel blue.

"What happened?" she asked. Twisting around and seeing where she was, she shrieked. "What the heck am I doing up here?" She looked down and saw the lack of her outer clothing layers. "And where are my clothes?"

*T*S*R*

"Grace, slow down!"

Trent had finally caught up with his hyper little sister after a while, grabbed her, and hooked her up to a leash so he could keep her in line. Zoey and Duncan had joined them after Duncan threw the filthy sock away and decided to walk around with a bare foot. He didn't have enough time to get a new shoe or sock and there was no point in attempting to clean that sock. Still, the two would have to stop every couple of minutes so that the little raven haired girl could vomit in a nearby bush. But at least they were on a track.

Grace ran ahead, pulling Trent with her. With a mighty tug, he managed to get her to halt. "Are you sure she'll be at Chris' hideaway?"

"Yeppity yep yep!" Grace chirped, tugging on the leash and the collar that came with it in some attempt to break free. At least she had calmed down enough that her dialogue didn't sound like one big, long word. "Chris is rich and probably has lots of candy, like chocolate, and if I was Selena, I'd want some chocolate! Chocolate is good, don't you think? Of course you do, I mean, who doesn't?" She giggled and tried running again, but Trent still had a tight grip on the leash.

"Where'd you get that leash and collar, anyway?" Duncan asked as he paused and waited for Zoey to finish emptying the contents of her stomach into a nearby bush.

Trent just shrugged. "Do you really care?"

"… No. Not really."

After his youngest sister finished up, Duncan and the group continued to trek toward the not-so-secret location.

*T*S*R*

"Why, Bridge?" was all Geoff could manage to mutter. "_Why?_"

Bridgette buried her face in her hands. "I don't know." He could tell by the shakiness of her voice that she was lying. Bridgette was not a very good liar. "I really don't know, Geoff."

"Just tell me," he said, prying her hands off of her ashamed face. "All I wanna know is _why._"

She looked down at her feet and drew a small circle in the dirt with her left foot. "It's just… we don't _talk_ anymore." She stood up and started pacing. "When we first started going out, we talked all the time about everything, anything. Now, all we do is make out. It's just… physical now. And I feel bad about being in that kind of relationship, where the only thing we have in common is swapping spit."

"That's not true!" Geoff yelled, bolting up. "We talk all the time!"

"Can you even remember the last long lasting, meaningful conversation we've had in the past few months?"

"…" He shut his mouth for a second. He was drawing a blank. "Um… Oh! Two days ago, I told you that I liked how your new lip gloss tasted and we had this great conversation about the store you got it from and… uh… a bunch of other stuff."

"And how did that conversation end?"

"… We made out."

Bridgette sadly nodded. "My point exactly, Geoff."

"How long?"

"How long what?"

"You know what, Bridgette. How long have you been wanting to break up?"

The surfer girl sighed. "About two months. I'm so sorry I told you like that. I should have told you sooner, but I… I couldn't bring myself to do it." She pushed a strand of blonde hair out of her face. "You're just so sweet and I knew it would hurt you, so I kept putting it off time and time again… The break up's nothing against you at all." She touched his arm comfortingly. It almost made him want to cry again. "You're a great guy, but…" She shook her head. "This just isn't working out. Do you understand?"

Geoff just stared into her eyes for a second. She looked sincerely sorry. He could tell she had had no intention of hurting him. He couldn't stand to see her that distressed. He had to agree.

"Yeah, totally." He tried to give her a smile. "And on the bright side, at least we won."

A small slime crept on her face, too. "There's the Geoff I know." She gave him one last kiss on the cheek and he sighed.

"Well, I guess I should find Marilee and Keith and you should wait here for Chris to come back."

He started to walk away, but Bridgette called out, "But I thought they went to the bathroom?"

Geoff turned around and shook his head. "Nah, she just made that up so we could talk alone."

Bridgette couldn't help but grin. "Marilee really does have a soul, doesn't she?"

Geoff chuckled. "Hey, she may be a little too aggressive for her own good sometimes, but she's still a good sister deep down."

"When you see her, tell her I'm sorry for the horrible things I said, would you?" Bridgette crossed her arms and looked down at her feet guiltily. "I'd tell her myself, but I'm not exactly on the best terms with her right now…"

"No problem." He grinned and started walking off again as Bridgette sat back down to wait for the rest of her team. After he turned around, he frowned again. He wasn't going to be partying for a long time.

*T*S*R*

Owen fell to the ground with a great thud and laid there for a moment. He was in agonizing pain from the great fall, and his stomach was hurting from eating all of the 'spaghetti' that had kept his prisoner for several hours.

Marilee and Keith just happened to be walking by again and saw that Owen had managed to get himself down. "Hey, congrats, buddy," Keith cheered, walking over toward him with Marilee close behind. "You got down from our net!… Where are the ropes?"

Owen finally stood up, glaring at the two. "That's all you have to say? 'Congrats, buddy?'" His fists were shaking in anger. "I've been trapped up there for hours with no food, no bathroom, and no snickerdoodles and that's _all_ you have to say?"

"Um… sorry?" Marilee feebly attempted at an apology.

Owen's grimace instantly turned into a forgiving grin and he gathered the duo up in a big hug. "Awww, I could never stay mad at you guys!" Marilee and Keith both looked a little blue from lack of oxygen, since his hug was pretty tight. After he let them go, both gasped for air. "Well, I'm gonna find Selena. See ya!" He waved and was off.

Marilee searched for the ropes, but couldn't find them. "How could the ropes just disappear like that?" she pondered, tapping her chin. Her eyes widened and she looked at Keith. "You don't think he-"

"No, no, of course not." He shook his head in disbelief and denial. "Even **Owen** wouldn't do something like that."

"… Or would he?"

*T*S*R*

Selena furiously tried to keep her balance, but it was hard, due to how freaked out she was. "Why am I up here?"

"That's what I've been trying to figure out," Zack informed her, slowly creeping toward her, to avoid frightening her even more.

Cody and Candace, still down on the ground, looked up above. Cody looked like he was about to pee his pants and even Candace, the queen of smiles, looked distressed. "She's back to normal? Oh my, she must be so scared," she whispered, not able to talk any louder due to her fright. She somehow found a louder voice and yelled up "Just stay calm! Don't think about falling… or splattering on the ground… and if you're afraid of heights, don't think about how super high up you are and-"

"Not helpful, Candace!" Selena called out, twisting around to glare at her.

She guiltily cringed. "Sorry!"

Selena blinked and gasped, feeling her chest. She must have remembered everything that happened and the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra. She hadn't even realized that she was accidentally leaning back, and a bit too far. She waved her arms wildly and tilted on her feet, trying to keep her balance. The teens gasped as they watched her .

"Selena!" Zack screamed, running toward her. Before he could grab her, her foot slipped and she plummeted backwards, letting out a loud scream. It became faint after a few seconds, and he assumed that she had landed a harsh landing.

The gamer had finally reached the edge, but fell to his knees, too weak to stand. "Oh, God." Zack held his head in his hand, feeling a strange feeling he had never felt before. "I'm too late…"

"Zaaaack!" He heard a feminine voice scream. Was it Candace? No. And it definitely wasn't Cody. He got to his feet and peered down to find Selena staring back up at him, fear in her eyes. She had managed to cling onto the edge before falling to her death, but her grip was slipping.

Candace fearfully nudged Cody and screamed, "Why are we just standing here? We have to go help them!"

Cody raced over to the door before she could even finish her last sentence and she was close behind.

"Don't worry, I've got you," Zack coaxed, reaching out to her with both hands.

Releasing one of her hands, she reached up and grabbed onto his hand while he gripped her around her wrist. After a second, she let go with her other hand and grabbed onto his hands. He groaned, struggling from the new weight she had added on. He slipped slightly, sliding so that his gut was pressed up against the small wall that made the edge.

Tears were brimming in Selena's eyes as she pleaded, "Please, just let go, Zack. I've already put you through enough today, you don't deserve to get hurt because of me. And I'm a quick healer; I'll be fine."

"I'm not letting go, Selena," he sternly said, sliding a little farther over the edge. "You're my friend and I'm not gonna let you get hurt." He tried to pull her up, but it didn't work.

Selena couldn't help but smile at hearing that, but frowned again when she saw that his grip was slipping. And her hand still hurt from catching herself, and though she tried to keep clinging to his wrist, her arm dropped to the side numbly.

Owen walked by, happily singing a small ditty. "_Tra la la, I'm freeeeeeee! Oh, yeah, I'm freeeeeeee! I'm free, free, free and,_" he paused, trying to think of another verse. "Um… _And I can't think of a better verse, but I'm still freeeeeeeeeeeeee!_" He laughed, then looked up for the first time. "GREAT GATSBY!" he screamed, looking up at the sight before him. "What in the name of corn on the cob happened?"

"What do you _think_ happened?" Zack furiously yelled down, desperately trying to keep Selena from falling. "Just stand there in case she falls!"

"Gotcha!" he saluted and ran under her, arms held out, prepared to catch her.

Cody and Candace finally arrived on the roof and Candace wrapped her arms around Zack's torso, trying to pull him back. Cody did the same with Candace. They were successfully dragging themselves back, but very slowly. They had finally dragged Zack back all the way up and he stood up. The small group cheered for a moment, until they realized something. "**WHERE'S SELENA?**" Candace and Cody frightfully yelled at him.

He held up one of the hands that had been gripping her wrist. Inside it was the chunky black bracelet that she had been wearing. "Oh, snap."

The three looked over the edge and saw that Selena was falling, screaming her head off and flailing her arms and legs around as she did. All they could do was hold their breath and hope that Owen would catch her. As they waited, they noticed that Duncan, Trent and their sisters were walking toward the building.

"Who's that falling?" Trent asked, eyes widening. It was a little hard for them to tell who it was, since they weren't close enough to see.

Before anybody could answer him, not that they really could have, he heard high pitched giggling and looked to see Grace running toward the area where the person was going to land. He pulled up the leash, seeing an empty collar. No wonder it had felt so light. "Grace, get back here right now!"

"No! I wanna watch the fally person go splatty-boom!" Grace shrieked, running toward Owen.

Selena turned around slightly, making her fall more to the left. Owen's eyes were squinted shut, bracing himself to catch her. Just as Grace had run up to his right, the falling teen landed on her, completely missing Owen. Owen opened his eye and looked down at the no-longer-so-hyper child being squashed by a girl a lot bigger than her. Duncan and Trent ran over to her and, realizing that it was her, pulled her up. "Selena! Are you okay?" Duncan asked, actually showing some concern for her well-being.

Selena stretched her back slightly. It probably hurt from landing on Grace. "Yeah… yeah, I think I'm okay. Grace's face broke my fall." The group above them breathed a sigh of relief seeing Selena up and about.

Remembering who it was that had been fallen on, Trent dropped on his knees next to Grace and picked her silent body up. "Grace, are you hurt?" She didn't respond; she didn't even move. "C'mon, Gracie, wake up! Please be okay!"

Her eyes instantly flashed open and she bounded out of his arms and bolted away from the group, laughing a happy, maniacal laugh.

"… I think she's just peachy," Duncan mumbled. He picked the tired Selena up bridal style and started carrying her back to camp. Owen and Trent followed and eventually, Cody, Zack, and Candace walked back outside and followed behind them.

Zoey ran over to the spot where everybody had originally been, wiping her mouth off with her sleeve. "Sorry 'bout that, guys. That was a really long one!" She finally took a look around and saw that no one was there. "Hello?" She called out.

She stood, silent. Then she asked herself, "How long was I throwin' up?"

*T*S*R*

By the time Duncan, Selena, and the rest of the Killer Bears had arrived back at the campfire pit, it was almost dark and the Rabid Wolves were already there, cheering about their victory. The Bears' spirits were crushed.

Chris arrived finally, smiling a mischievous smile. "Oh, look at all those happy faces." He turned toward the Bears and mockingly frowned. "Awww, and wook at aww those sad faces." The team did not find his mocking as funny as he did.

"But you guys don't have any reason to be sad because," he looked down at his watch and counted down, "Five, four, three, two, one. It's officially sunset and your team wins!"

"Wha?" The entire team chattered amongst themselves, not that they weren't happy.

The Wolves, however, weren't so thrilled. "**What?**" LeShawna yelled, storming over to Chris. "What's wrong with you, boy? We was here with Bridgette first!"

"Ah!" Chris raised a finger. "But that isn't necessarily true!" When all he got in response were several confused looks, he said, "The challenge was to bring your loopy bird back by sunset, key words being 'bring back.' Bridgette came back on her own, so it wasn't really a challenge for you guys, huh?" Motioning toward the Bears, he told them, "The Killer Bears, on the other hand, brought her back right on time!"

The new winning team cheered, while the losing one continued to argue with the host.

"But we managed to keep her here!"

"How is that even fair?"

"YOU SUCK!"

"Yeah, yeah, don't care, "Chris stated, walking toward his oil drum podium. "Just come back in an hour and for now, vamoose."

The campers dispersed, half happy, the others miserable.

*T*S*R*

Zack was sitting out on the porch of their cabin, chin propped in his hand. He had been thinking about the past few hours, and all of the events that had happened. He felt boobs, got tossed off a cliff, and attempted to save an innocent girl from falling off an extremely high building.

And he had always thought the most drama on reality shows occurred at the end of the season.

Just as he was about ready to head inside, Selena walked up and sat down next to him. She wouldn't look him in the eye. "Hi."

"Hi. I'm guessing you remember what… happened?"

Still not looking at him, she nodded. "I'm so incredibly sorry. It was… I was just so… Look, can we just-"

"As far as I'm concerned," he interrupted, "It never happened. I'm forgetting all about it. You should do the same."

Selena finally looked at him and grinned. "You're a cool guy, Zack." She patted his shoulder and got up, walking into the girls side of the cabin.

Keith, who was walking by to get to the campfire pit for the ceremony, strolled over and sat down next to Zack. "Hey, bro. Heard what happened between you and Selena."

Zack looked at him, his mouth agape. "_How?_"

"You'd be surprised how quickly news spreads around here. Did you really just grab her like that? Kinda pushy, man. And that's coming from _me_…"

"You heard it from _Duncan_, didn't you?"

"… Possibly."

Zack sighed and shook his head. "_She_ was the one who made _me _do it. All because of that stupid elixir."

"Oh, that makes a lot more sense. You don't seem like that kind of guy. So…" He smirked and nudged him. "How'd she feel?"

"C'mon, Keith, I don't wanna talk about that."

"Oh, I get it. Bra stuffer, huh?" Keith shook his head. "Shame your first time to second base was with a wad of tissues…"

Zack groaned, "No, they were real, but I just feel like a pervert talking about it."

Keith sighed, crossing his arms and propping them on his knees. "Okay then. If you don't want to talk about it, that's cool. I understand."

"Thanks, man."

For a moment, they were very quiet. Zack bit his lip, trying to keep himself from saying what he wanted to say. After several second of struggling with himself, he gave up and blurted out, "Dude, her boob felt awesome!"

"Oh, yeah!" Keith gave him a hive five and listened as Zack continued to describe it.

"It was like squeezing a plastic baggie full of pudding, but a thousand times better! Man, I never understood before why us guys love it so much, but now that I've actually done it, I finally get it! It was the greatest moment of my life!"

Keith was smirking at his friend's excitement, until he saw the figure standing behind them. He shakily pointed behind him. "Uh… dude?"

"What?" He turned around, paling when he saw who was glaring down at him. He had just emerged from the guy's side of the cabin and looked absolutely furious.

"Oh, boy. Duncan, I-"

"You. Little. **Bastard**!" Duncan charged toward him and Zack screamed, bolting away as fast as possible.

Keith sat and looked as they ran off. "Good luck, buddy!" he called out to Zack, who probably couldn't hear him by that point. "See you after the campfire ceremony, if I don't get voted off… Or if you don't get killed."

*T*S*R*

When the losing team arrived again, it was pitch black out, the only light coming from the lights hanging around the campfire pit and the tiki torches by the Dock of Shame. It had become chilly out, so Marilee had slipped on a small, blue zip up hoodie. It was probably the only piece of clothing she owned that she hadn't made herself.

Chris arrived with his tray of marshmallows, along with his usual toothy grin. "Man, bummer about you guys losing, huh?" He got several glares in return. "But you guys know the deal. No marshmallow, no moolah. It's been a long day and I wanna get this over with, so let's just do this."

"Long day?" LeShawna asked. "You been gone the entire day! What were you doin', anyway?"

Chris scratched his chin, thinking back on the past couple of hours.

_Flashback: 6:12 PM _

"_Ahhhhhhhhh…" Chris sighed as the masseuse gently massaged his back. He was lying on a massage table, wearing only a small white towel wrapped around his waist. His chin was propped up on his crossed arms. "This is the life, ain't it, Chef?"_

_Chef, who was on the table next to Chris, was getting a massage from a masseuse who looked like she could have been twins with Chris'. He was clad in the same thing as Chris, except his face was covered in a goopy, green facial mask. He removed the cucumbers from his eyes and nodded. "Got that right, boy. Can't believe we've been here for over five hours…" There was a small table between the two, holding a bowl of tortilla chips. Chef grabbed one and scooped some of the goop from his mask onto it. He held it out to Chris. "Want some guac?"_

"_Don't mind if I do!" He took the guacamole covered chip and happily ate it._

_End Flashback_

"Uh… I had to get some things… smoothed out." He shrugged. "Whatever, I'm just gonna toss them to you. Izzy, LeShawna, Herbie, Xavier, Jovie." He tossed five marshmallows to the five campers, all of them happily taking them. "DJ, Keith, Geoff, and Marilee." He tossed them their invincibility, too. Only Bridgette and Jamal were left. Bridgette looked kind of nervous, but Jamal looked cool as a cucumber.

"Two campers, one marshmallow. The final marshmallow goes to…"

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"Jamal." He tossed the marshmallow to the muscular young man and he caught it in his mouth, victoriously chewing it. "Bridgette, time for you to leave." Chris said.

Geoff looked flabbergasted at her being booted off. The most of the other campers, however, didn't looked nearly as surprised. "What? How could you guys vote someone as awesome as her off?"

"Geoff, this girl stomped on heart in front of half of television-owning Canadians and you're defending her honor?" Marilee asked, glaring at Bridgette coldly.

The surfer girl's eye twitched at Marilee's glare, but she turned to Geoff and told him, "It's fine, really. Maybe this is for the best." She waved to everybody, and most of them waved back. "Good bye, everyone. It was fun while it lasted."

As she walked off, Geoff slumped slightly. He turned to look back at his team, not even close to being as happy as he usually is. "Why'd you guys vote her off?"

"I think I know," Chris said in a sing-song tone, leaning against his oil drum. "While getting the marshmallows for the ceremony, I happened to see a hooded figure lurking around, talking to a few members of your team. Convincing them to vote you ex off, maybe?" He grinned, looking more like he was talking about who won last night's hockey game than who voted off the party boy's ex girlfriend.

_Flashback: 8:51 PM_

_Jovie was sitting under a oak tree near the lodge, eating a red apple and reading a hardcover book. She looked up, feeling like there was somebody else around. Seeing nothing, she shrugged and looked back down at her book. Suddenly, someone tapped her on her shoulder and she screamed and drop her snack and book. Looking to the side, she saw that a hooded person was poking out from behind the tree, looking at her. She could tell by the person's curves that it was female, but the blue hood she was wearing cast a shadow on her face, so there was no telling who it was. And the tree hid the bottom half of her body, so she couldn't tell who it was by a specific pair of pants. The only distinguishing characteristic she could make out was a tuft of blonde hair sticking out from the bottom of the opening of the hood._

"_Who are you?" Jovie asked, looking scared._

"_That's not important." She grabbed the trunk of the oak for support and continued, "All I wanna do is talk. A certain somebody needs to be eliminated tonight, and I need you help." She leaned in and whispered in her ear who it was._

_Jovie shook her head, very confused. "But why would I want to vote off-"_

"_Trust me," the mystery girl interrupted. "It has to be done. Just vote with me and the rest of the group tonight. For Geoff's sake."_

_All Jovie did was nod._

_End Flashback_

All eyes went on Marilee, specifically staring at her hoodie. "Marilee," Geoff frowned, staring at his sister, "I know you're mad at her, but that was seriously uncool."

"Marilee?" Jovie, who was sitting right next to her, asked, "Girl, was that you who told me to vote Bridgette off?"

"Don't look at me!" she protested. "It wasn't me…" She didn't speak for a minute, but finally added, "But I wish I had. Dang. Why didn't I think of that?"

"If it wasn't you…" Geoff looked around, seeing no one else wearing a hoodie. "Who was it, then?"

Keith looked around and sheepishly stood up. "I think I know who." He walked over to Geoff. "You might wanna sit down for this one, bro."

_Flashback: 8:07 PM_

"_But… but, Bridge," Keith tried to get the right words to form in his mouth, but failed for a moment. "Why are you doing this?"_

_Bridgette looked at herself in the mirror on the girl's side of the Rabid Wolves cabin, frowning at her own reflection. She pulled her blue hood over her head and tried to tuck all of her hair into it, but didn't entirely succeed, since a small piece was still hanging out. "It has to be done, Keith. I have to do this. For Geoff."_

"_But you dumped him!"_

"_Yes, but I just have to leave tonight." She walked over to him and sat down next to him on the bunk he was sitting on. "You should have seen the look on Geoff's face when we officially broke up. He looked so miserable." She looked down at her feet guiltily. "I wanted to win, but I don't want to ruin Geoff's chances."_

"_How does rallying a bunch of people together to vote you off help Geoff?"_

"_You know how easily distracted he gets!" Bridgette told him. "Things are going to be really awkward between us for a while. And the awkwardness might keep him from participating in a challenge right and he'll wind up on the Boat of Losers." Bridgette managed to hold back the tears that so desperately wanted to start forming. "I don't want to be responsible for his failure. So I have to do this. I'll see you at the bonfire ceremony tonight." She stood up and Keith sadly looked at her walk toward the door. But she stopped and turned around, looking at her little brother. "And Keith?"_

_He stood up and walked toward her. "Yeah, sis?"_

_She weakly grinned at him. "Kick butt in the competition, okay?"_

_The skater boy gave a small smile back. "Will do, Bridgette. Will do."_

_She pulled him into a big hug and then left without another word._

_End Flashback_

Geoff stared at Keith, mouth agape. "Bridgette did all that… for me?"

"Yeah," Keith guiltily admitted. "She didn't really want you to find out about it, so when she sees the end of this episode, she'd gonna be really ticked at me…"

"Wow…" Geoff smiled. "Looks like I'm gonna have to try even harder to win then, huh?"

"That's what Bridgette would want, bro," Keith said, patting him on the shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, blah blah blah," Chris muttered. "Win it for the girl who brutally dumped you. Smart move. Not." He yawned. "Ugh, all this drama has worn me out. I'm hitting the hay. McClean out." With that, he walked away.

All of the other campers departed, too. Some cast Geoff sympathetic looks as they past him. Only Marilee and Geoff were left.

The hoodie-clad girl walked cautiously over to her brother. "You going to okay?"

Geoff sighed. "No. The love of my life just broke up with me."

Marilee frowned deeply. She hated to see Geoff so sad. If it had been Duke, she wouldn't have given a flying whoop about it, but Geoff was different. Geoff was the only one of her brothers she could actually stand. "It'll be okay, Geoff."

"I really don't think it will be…"

Marilee sat down on the stump next to him. "I know you're hurting right now, but you'll feel better soon. You just need to get your confidence back." She suddenly frowned and slapped his arm. "You're such a loser! What's wrong with you?" Geoff looked up at her, looking even sadder than before. She guiltily cringed. "Sorry, force of habit."

He attempted to give her a smile. "Aw, sis, I know your heart's in the right place, but I really just want to be alone right now. There are a lot of things I need to think about."

Marilee nodded understandingly. Giving his shoulder a small squeeze, she got up and walked away.

Geoff turned to look out at the murky ocean. The same one that his ex-girlfriend had traveled across after being voted off. He still couldn't' wrap his mind around the fact that she had done all of that. For _him_. If she was so willing to do that just to spare him, then she must have still hade _some _feelings for him, right?

"I'm gonna win this thing, Bridge," he quietly said. Looking up at the bright moon, he smiled genuinely.

"I'm gonna win it for the both of us."

* * *

Anybody notice the Family Guy joke in there? Kinda altered it a bit, but still, it's noticeable. Not that much, though.

But poor Geoff and Bridgette! :C I was originally going to have the Bears lose and have the final marshmallow go to either Selena or Owen, then have Bridgette run in just as Chris was about to announce the winner and ask to be kicked off. But, just my luck, something extremely similar to this happened in the latest TDA episode (sorry for the teensy weensy spoiler for you people who are waiting 'til it airs on CN!), and I figured that no one would believe that I thought of it before it aired, so I wrote it like this. And besides, I like how it turned out :D

Will Zack survive Duncan's wrath yet again? Will Geoff be able to concentrate during next week's challenge? Did Grace ever calm down and did Zoey ever stop barfing? And did anybody else notice how I finally managed to slip an intern in this chapter? All the answers to these cliff hangers will be answered in the next chapter of **TOTAL SIBLING RIVALRY!**


	14. Day 4, Part 1: Would You Rather?

Yippie! New challenge time!

Well, not much of the challenge actually happens, because there was a bunch of business that needed to be taken care of…

A few of you have been asking me questions, so I think I'll take the time to answer them here…

**When are we gonna see the booted off campers again? I liked some of them!**

Patience, my friends, patience! After every five challenges, which is pretty much like a school week (starts on Monday, ends on Friday), Chris goes to Playa de Losers on Saturday to see how the losers are doing and what's new with them. And for those of you who liked Rikki and Jackson, there will be lots of them in the first Playa de Losers episode. :D

**Are you putting DJ/Heather in here or were you just screwing with us?**

YES SHUT UP UBER CANON FANS. Lol, jk :D Since I'm making pretty much everything else canon, I figured throwing some fanon in wouldn't do anybody any real harm. Will they actually end up together or is it just innocent flirting? Well… I'M NOT TELLING! HA!

**Do you have this whole fic all planned out? Like how far?**

I don't have the order of challenges and what order the campers get voted off, necessarily, but I have a pretty good idea of who'll be in the final eight.

**MOAR DUNCAN/COURTNEY PLZ. (Okay, so this isn't really a question, but still…)**

Okay, okay! I'm sorry there hasn't been enough of them. There just hasn't been any convenient spots in the last few chapters for them. Same thing goes for the interns, btw.

Not much to say about this chapter. Just please read, review, and enjoy! :D

* * *

Cody emerged from the boy's side of the Killer Bears cabin and stretched, since he had just gotten up. He had already gotten changed and had tried to comb his hair with his hand, but it was still a little messy. The techno geek knew there was going to be a challenge that day, but they usually didn't start this early, so he knew he'd have plenty of time to fix it later.

He couldn't see any of his friends nearby, so he just sat on the steps, thinking about the other day.

Duncan had let Zack off easy after he caught him, but when the poor boy woke up next morning, he found that somebody had written 'Pervert' on his forehead with permanent marker in his sleep. Somebody with Duncan's handwriting. Luckily, his messy brown hair and his baseball cap covered it.

Five minutes after they found out that they won, Grace's almost infinite energy had finally crashed, and she had fallen asleep in mid-babble. Trent then carried her off to bed, making a mental note to himself to keep a better eye on her and her sugary consumptions.

And Zoey stopped puking, right after she upchucked a little onto Jamal's foot. Disgusted, he had kicked her away with his clean foot, making her cry and making Duncan give him a black eye. But that's an entirely different story.

Then, he thought about the time he had spent with Candace. She had nothing but positive things to say about, well, everything. Not to mention that her smile had almost never left her lips, except when Selena was in peril, of course. Even she couldn't find anything positive about that, but who could?

* * *

"Candace?" Cody questioned, tapping his chin. "Sure, at first I was thinking, 'Hey, all right, new babe!', but I was most just kidding with myself. Especially once I actually started talking to her. Just after five minutes, I realized she's NOTHING like Gwen. Seriously, she's the exact opposite!" Leaning back, Cody explained, "And I'm just not into that type of girl…" He perked back up. "But, hey, at least she's a lot nicer to me than Gwen was last year…" He shook his head. "So, yeah, Candace isn't the right girl for me… But she's a cool friend."

* * *

Cody got up and stretched again, walking over to the mess hall. He had skipped breakfast and surely everybody else had already finished their food by now, but he figured one of his buddies might just be hanging out in there. When he reached there, he got quite a surprise.

He had heard a faint scream a while ago, but pushed the strange feeling in his gut aside, passing it off as nothing. He should have listened to his gut, because Zack walked out of the almost empty mess hall, completely covered in honey and fluffy, white feathers, his mouth a narrow, angry line. Cody was about to crack a joke, but Zack held a sticky hand up and growled through his teeth, "Don't. Say. **ANYTHING.**" He stormed away, leaving a trail of gooey honey footprints behind him.

Cody watched him walk away for a second, then turned around to find a smirking Duncan leaning against the railing of the entrance. "Gotta love Honey-Covered Chicken Day," he commented, smirking even larger than ever.

Cody couldn't help but smirk, too. "Even though he's my buddy, I really gotta hand it to you, man," He held up a hand and the punk gladly high-fived it. He laughed and told him, "That was hilarious!"

*T*S*R*

Gwen happily sighed as she watched Trent wave at her and walk toward her and her spot at the picnic table by the mess hall. He made her so incredibly happy… But they had barely been able to spend any time together, since certain distractions always came up. Half of those distractions came in the form of Grace. "Hey, Trent."

He sat down next to her, placing his hand over hers. "Hi there, beautiful."

She blushed and nudged him. "Oh, stop it!"

"Stop what? Stating the truth?" He playfully smirked at her while her face continued to redden.

"You're so sweet…" She grinned at him, but her grin quickly faltered. "Too bad we've barely spent any time together…"

"I know." He kicked at a small pebble by his foot. "Something always seems to be getting in the way…"

"More like some_one_," Gwen mumbled quietly, hoping Trent hadn't heard her. Unfortunately, he did.

"Hm?"

"Oh… Nothing."

Meanwhile, from behind the mess hall, Grace was spying on their alone time, eyes narrowed.

* * *

"Why do I hate Gwen?" Grace pondered, tapping her chin. After thinking, she threw her hands up in a frustrated manor and yelled, "Why wouldn't I hate her? She's a big, fat jerky jerk and Trent's too good for her! She's ugly, smelly, stupid, and…" She paused, trying to think of another word. "Um… I already said smelly, right?" She crossed her arms. "Still, I hate her. So I had to do everything I could to keep them apart. Even if it meant hurting myself…"

* * *

The evil little girl scratched her head, formulating a plan. When one finally came, she took action immediately.

Crawling toward one of the cement blocks holding the mess hall up, she pushed her knee up against it and started grinding the joint on the rough surface, tearing through her white tights and producing a nasty scrape. Crimson liquid slowly started trickling out of the scrape, and she let out a silent yelp of pain.

"So far, so good," Grace mused, inspecting the injury. "Now I just need to make it look like I fell down…" She grabbed some dirt off the ground, smearing it on her tights, dark blue skirt, and even on her long sleeved magenta top and short sleeved orange button up sweater.

"Okay, now for the tears…" Her eyes started to glisten with fake tears, and in a sad, little voice, she whimpered, "Twent, I huwted my widdle knee! Get away fwom Gwen and fix it…" Tears disappearing, she nodded and said, "Yep, that'll work," in her normal voice.

Back over by Gwen and Trent, the latter gently grabbed his girlfriend by her chin and turned her face toward his. "I'm glad Chris put us on the same team again."

Gwen looked into his bright green eyes dreamily and said, "That's the only thing I don't hate about that man…"

Trent was slowly guiding her face toward his with his hand, so they could finally have a long kiss, but Trent jerked away when he heard some loud crying. He and Gwen turned to find Grace limping toward them, blood coating her knee and tears trickling down her cheeks.

"Grace, what's wrong?" Trent got up, away from Gwen, and kneeled down next to his sister.

Rubbing her wet eyes, Grace lifted up her right leg and whimpered, "I-I got an owie…"

"Let me see it," he instructed, inspecting her cut. "Whoa, this looks pretty bad… We'd better get you to the infirmary and fix it up."

Grace sniffed several times, and mumbled, "Okay…" She lifted her arms up, implying that she wanted to be carried there.

Trent picked her up, then turned back to Gwen, looking a little bit guilty. "Gwen, I'm sorry, I-"

"No, no, I completely understand," Gwen reassured and sighed, "You gotta do what you gotta do…"

* * *

"Though I strongly dislike Grace for constantly trying to keep me and Trent apart," Gwen started, arms crossed casually, "I couldn't help but feel bad for her. That scrape looked like it really hurt…"

* * *

Trent started walking off with her, then chuckled and commented, "Y'know, for someone named Grace, you sure are klutzy. This is, like, the fourth time you've fallen down and hurt yourself this week. Yesterday when Gwen and I went for a walk, you scraped your elbow. Day before that, when me and Gwen were by the lake, you scraped your other knee…"

Grace nervously giggled and shrugged. "Ehehe… yeaaaaaaah."

* * *

"Okay," Grace admitted, crossing her arms. "I'm not that good at coming up with distractions…"

* * *

Gwen waved them goodbye, once again feeling very lonely, as Trent carried his baby sister off. Before they were out of eyeshot, Grace positioned herself so that Trent couldn't see her face, and blew a silent raspberry at Gwen.

She gasped, then angrily glared at her, losing all of her sympathy for the little faker.

* * *

"That little brat!" Gwen growled, fists clenched angrily. "I cannot believe her. She injured herself just to drag Trent away from me!" She ran a hand through her long, dyed hair and rhetorically asked, "How could the world's sweetest guy have such a cow for a little sister?"

* * *

After a few minutes of furious steaming, she stood up and started walking back toward the mess hall, since it was almost lunchtime. Might as well be angry on a full stomach.

Right before the Goth girl opened the door to the lodge, she heard a high-pitched scream coming from the direction of the infirmary, followed by a few pain-filled sobs. She stopped, trying to figure out what could have caused it. After a second, she realized what must have happened.

Gwen grinned. "Gotta love the harsh sting of antiseptic spray…"

*T*S*R*

"Duncan, get off of me! I'm not making out with you out here!"

"C'mon, Princess, what'd the big deal?" Duncan asked, pulling her slim frame closer to his.

She tried pulling away, but he was too strong. "Because, I don't want anybody to see us gnawing at each other like two uncivilized animals!"

Duncan childishly groaned, and said, "Bridgette and Geoff didn't care if anybody saw!"

"And look how great _that _relationship turned out!"

"…" Duncan merely sighed in defeat, releasing her from his grip. "Fine. How about just one kiss?"

Her pout remained. "…No."

"C'mon, I really need a little pick-me-up after the whole thing with Selena yesterday…"

"Is that still bothering you?"

"Of course it is," he snapped, glaring at her. "She's my sister, and I just want to protect her from freaky freaks like Zack."

* * *

"Just to set the record straight," Duncan started, fiddling with his pocket knife, flipping it in and out and not really focusing on the camera. "I'm not soft." He looked up, flipped the knife out again and, in a harsher tone, said, "**I'm not. **It's just…" He groaned, flipping the small weapon back in its handle. "It's different with them; Selena and Zoey, that is."

He squinted his eyes shut and rubbed his temples with his free hand, flipping the blade out once again with the other. "I wouldn't have cared if Jamal had made some other kid cry. And if Zack had been fooling around with any other chick, I actually would have admired him for it." He flipped the shiny blade back in, eyebrow scrunching angrily. "But when you mess with family," With a quick flash, he retracted the blade out again, pointing it directly at the camera, as if threatening the viewer with it. "You mess with _me_! Got it?"

* * *

Courtney couldn't help but smile. "Aww, you really do have a heart." She grabbed his face, pulled him close, gave him a quick peck on the nose and whispered, "That deserves a nice, long kiss…"

She was getting ready to mash her lips against his, but before she could, a small voice interrupted. "Hi, guys!"

Courtney and Duncan looked down, seeing Zoey peering up at them, as if unaware of what they were about to do.

"Oh, goody gumdrops," Duncan sarcastically grumbled as Courtney speedily pushed him away to avoid giving the little girl any inappropriate messages. "Zoey's here. I'm glad we weren't doing anything…" He noticed that Geoff had just finally exited his cabin and had sadly sat down on the steps. "I have to talk to Geoff about something." He leaned in toward Courtney, so Zoey couldn't hear, and whispered, "Save me that kiss, gorgeous…" Duncan started walking toward his glum buddy and called out, "I'll leave you girls to talk about whatever it is girls talk about."

When the punk was gone, Courtney sat down on the grass so she could talk to her boyfriend's sister at her own level. "Did you want to talk to me, Zoey?"

She kicked at a clump of dirt and said, "I just wanted to say sorry for all the mean stuff Selena said to you yesterday…"

The former CIT waved a hand nonchalantly. "No, it's fine. Trust me, I've had much worse things said about me online…"

"I just don't want you to break up with my big brother 'cause of her," she explained, sitting next to her. "He likes you a lot. And he's been home more 'cause of you. He hasn't been to stupid, yucky juvie in a long time! Mommy says you're a good infuent on him."

She laughed and said, "I think you mean 'influence'."

Zoey nodded. "Yeah! And I like you a lot better than Duncan's old girlfriends. You're pretty and smart and nice and pretty and, uh, smart…"

Courtney laughed again, and pulled her into a big hug. "Thank you, sweetie! That means a lot to me."

Zoey smiled and nodded again, sliding down into her lap. "Mmhmm! And Duncan says that you have great knockers!"

The brunette's eyes widened. "Zoey! He actually said that in front of you?"

"Well, no," Zoey admitted, unsure as to why Courtney was so upset. "But he says that to all his friends back home… Why aren't you happy? Are knockers a bad thing? …What _are_ knockers? Is it a kind of candy?"

Instead of answering her question, Courtney mumbled, "Oh, that pervert is _so_ not getting that kiss!"

*T*S*R*

Holly walked by the outskirts of the woods, twirling a brunette and red piece of hair and smoothing out a wrinkle in her Team Edward t-shirt with her free hand. She happened to see Jamal sitting on a rock, lifting two giant dumbbells. She walked over to him, gave him a friendly smile and said, "Hi, Jamal."

"Don't say hi," Jamal coolly said, barely giving her a glance.

Holly confusedly blinked. "Um… Why not?"

He sighed, still curling and not looking at her. "Because you'll say 'hi' and I'll say 'hi' back, you'll ask how I'm doing and I'll say 'fine' and then I'll feel compelled to ask how you're doing or whatever, even though I really don't care." Holly cocked an eyebrow and he continued, "Then you'll drone on and on and ON about something Twilight-related and I'll have to pretend to listen to you, which will be excruciatingly hard, since I won't be, and it would be best if we just didn't get tangled up in that mess in the first place." He put his dumbbells down and picked up some bigger ones that were sitting by his feet and started using them.

Holly blinked and slowly backed away.

* * *

"Yeesh!" Holly scrunched her face in confusion as she told the Confession Can camera, "I just wanted to say 'hi'!"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Geoff sat slumped on the one of the steps outside the Rabid Wolves cabin and sighed. It had been less than twenty four hours since his break up with Bridgette, and his heart was still hurting.

Still, he couldn't get over how she had gotten almost everybody to vote her off. That was really nice of her… He couldn't believe he had let her slip away…

Duncan approached his friend and sat down next to him. Though they were put on different teams, they didn't let that get in the way of friendship. And right now, Geoff needed a friend. "Hey, heard about you and Malibu Barbie. That sucks. But I'm here for ya, man."

"Yeah…" Geoff nodded, trying not to snap at him for what he called Bridgette. "I just feel like there's this big, empty space in my heart. One that only Bridgette can fill. Every second that goes by without her by my side feels like an eternity. I don't think I can live without her, bro. She comple-"

"Okay, I'm trying to be supportive, but you're getting _way_ too mushy," Duncan interrupted, slapping a hand over Geoff's mouth.

After a second, he took it off and Geoff tried to change the subject by grinning and saying, "Cody told me about that prank you pulled on Zack." The two knuckle-touched and he said, "Nice one! But what's up with you wailing on him so much? You weren't even this harsh to Harold, and he's, like, millenniums ahead of Zack in nerd years."

"You haven't heard how he groped my sister?" Geoff's jaw dropped and Duncan's unibrow angrily scrunched just talking about it.

"Are you serious?" Duncan nodded and Geoff shook his head. "Man, I can't believe Zack would do that to Zoey. She's just a little kid! That's just sick! And what would be the point of it, anyway? It's not like she has any boo-" Duncan smacked him to get him to shut up and he whined in pain.

"Not her, brainiac, Selena!" He furiously crossed his arms over his chest. "She was all high on Chris' freakazoid juice or whatever it's called and the freak decided to cop a feel with her."

"Whoa," Geoff gasped, straightening up from shock. "I don't blame you for doing all that stuff to him, man. I don't even know _what_ I'd do if somebody did that to Marilee. But I sure wouldn't think Zack was that kind of dude just by looking at him."

"Well, it's true," Duncan bluntly said. "It's forever burned into my mind…" He shuddered and looked at his glum friend again. "You know, I'm probably going to need help for my next idea. Gimme a hand?'

Geoff rubbed the back of his neck, unsure. "I dunno. I'll probably be kind of a downer for a while. I don't wanna wreck your fun…"

"Geoff, this is exactly what you need to get your mind off of Bridgette," he reassured, placing his usual smirk back on his face. "Picking on a scrawny weakling is the perfect way to get over a chick."

"How would you know?"

"Why do you think I picked on Harold so much?" He leaned back, propping his arms behind his head. "Yep, Monica Webster. Dumped me for the football team's equipment manager right before I left home last season." He rolled his eyes and added, "I would have beaten the crap out of that dweeb, but she broke the news right as I was getting on the boat and besides, he kinda looked like Harold…"

Geoff looked skeptical for a second, but grinned, shrugged and stood up. "What the heck? It's not like it could make my life suck any worse right now."

Duncan stood up, patted him on the back, and grinned. "That's the spirit, buddy. Let's see if DJ's up for it…"

*T*S*R*

Heather sighed, sitting on a giant piece of driftwood by the shores of Lake Wawanawkwa. Her arms were crossed over her chest, though not because she was angry or cold. It looked more like she was hiding something.

She looked out into the shining, yet murky, waters, sadness visible on her face. Being on that island didn't exactly bring back any good memories, and she certainly hadn't made many new ones yet. Everybody pretty much hated her, no matter how hard she tried to convince them she had changed. The only people there that didn't detest her were Candace and Herbie, and while she appreciated their kindness, it's not like it was saying much. Candace liked pretty much everything and everybody and Herbie liked mud and worms, so his standards weren't exactly that high, either.

Just then, DJ walked over to her, a laundry basket in his hands. He had seen her on his way back from the small laundry cabin near the washrooms, and he could almost sense her sadness. He believed her. When she had confessed her newfound ways, he could tell she had truly meant what she said. He had been lied to quite a few times in his life and he knew a liar when he saw one. She wasn't one.

"Hey, Heather," he greeted as he got closer to her. "What's up?"

She looked up at him and grinned. "Hi, DJ. I'm just thinking."

He sat down on the ground next to her, setting the laundry basket aside. "That's cool… What about?"

"Just the island… And the people on it."

There was an awkward silence. Neither knew what to add to that. But DJ finally spoke up and said, "I believe you."

"Wha?" It took her a second to realize what he meant, but when she did, her face brightened up. "Really? You do?"

"Sure." He nodded. "People do change for the better sometimes."

"Thanks. You really have no idea what that means to me."

It looked like she was about to say something else, but before she could, DJ asked, "Why are your holding your arms like that?" He had just noticed how stiffly and strangely crossed her arms were.

She blushed and shook her head. "N-no reason."

He gave her a glance showing her that he wasn't buying it. "C'mon, girl, just tell me. I promise I won't laugh no matter how embarrassing it is."

Heather sighed. He wasn't going to give up anytime soon. "Okay, fine… But you _cannot _laugh at me…" She closed her eyes in shame and let her arms drop to her sides. There were two big slits slashed on the chest of her t-shirt, exposing her purple bra.

DJ bit his lip and looked away, trying to stifle his laughter. Heather opened her eyes and yelled, "It's not funny!" Though it wasn't in her old, harsh tone. Just a new, humiliated one.

He held his hands up peacefully and agreed, "Yeah, you're right. Sorry. But how'd that happen?"

"Gwen did it! She did to all of my shirts!" She slumped sadly. "She still hasn't forgiven me for all that stuff I did to her last season, not that I can exactly blame her or anything…"

"Don't worry about Gwen," DJ reassured, patting her on the back. "I'm sure she won't hold this grudge for much longer."

"I sure hope so," Heather sighed. "But what am I going to do? I can't walk around camp like _this_!" She gestured toward the damaged area.

DJ pondered for a minute, then when he thought of the perfect idea, he started rifling through his laundry basket. He pulled out a shirt that looked just like his usual t-shirt, only several sizes smaller. He held it out to her. "Try this on and see if it fits."

She followed his orders, and it fit almost perfectly. She beamed happily. "DJ, thank you so much!" She gave him a quick hug and asked, "Why do you have such a small shirt?"

He sheepishly shrugged. "I kind of screwed up on this load of shirts… Momma usually does my laundry…"

Heather laughed, then took a quick glance at her watch. "Oh, man!" She stood up and looked in the direction of the mess hall. "We're going to miss lunch!"

"You'd better go," DJ warned her, standing up. "I'm just gonna drop my clothes off back at my cabin first."

"Okay, see you later," she departed, smiling and giving him a small wave. Before she was out of his earshot, she also called out, "Thanks for the shirt!"

He waved back, picking up his basket full of too-small t-shirts. When she was gone, he happily sighed. _I should mess up the laundry more often…_

*T*S*R*

After lunch, Chris had called everyone to the amphitheater. Zack and Selena sat next to each other in the front row of the stands. Zack gave her a little grin, making her blush and look away at the stage. Seeing that, Duncan took a seat in the second row, using Zack's head as a foot rest. The gamer was too afraid to say anything to the punk, and Selena didn't notice, so he sighed and let him keep his feet up there.

"Campers!" Chris exclaimed as he walked on stage. "Your next challenge might seem familiar to a few of you. Anybody remember the Triple Dog Dare challenge?"

Just mentioning it made Heather gasp and bring a hand up to her hair and made Gwen laugh when she saw Heather's face.

"Well, this challenge isn't exactly the same…" He gave an all-knowing wink to the interns, who were standing next to him. They walked behind the curtain, getting some things. "It's…" He paused, waiting for the girls to bring the needed materials out, and when they did, he finished, "Would You Rather?"

The competitors looked at the items the interns dragged on stage. There were two rolling tables, each one with a giant glass jar on top. The jars looked like they were filled with hundreds of tiny slips of paper.

Chris walked over to said tables, rested a hand on each jar, and looked back at his audience. "Ever play that game with your friends where you have to choose the lesser of two evils, as if you'd ever have to choose between those things? Eat a live bug or a dead rat? Lick a stop sign or eat an entire jar of mayonnaise?"

"Eww," Courtney cringed disgustedly. "Why would anybody want to do any of those things?"

"That's the point; you wouldn't! But you're going to have to if you want to win." Chris smirked, motioning to the stands from the No Pain, No Game challenge set up to his right. "Take a seat up here and I'll explain the details to you."

They did as they were told. Grace, Trent, Gwen and Zack sat in the first row, Candace, Owen, DJ and Jamal in the second, Heather, Keith, LeShawna and Jovie in the third, Izzy, Herbie, Xavier, Cody and Courtney in the fourth, and Marilee, Geoff, Duncan, Selena, and Zoey in the fifth.

"Here's how it's gonna go down," Chris pointed to the jars and continued, "When it's your turn, I'll take a slip of paper from each jar. Each slip has a horrifying task on it. You must choose which task you want to do instead of the other." He ran a hand through his hair and smiled at them. "I came up with all of them myself, and trust me, they are _sick_!" He laughed. "And if you either fail to complete your chosen task or refuse to do either of your choices, you're out."

* * *

"Maybe this won't be so bad," Gwen shrugged. "At least we get some say in what sick, demented task we have to perform…"

* * *

He looked at the group and tapped his chin. "Now who wants to go first?"

There was silence for a moment, except for the sound of a cricket chirping. Obviously, no one wanted to do it at all. After glancing around for a while, hoping someone else would volunteer before she did, Selena sighed and stood up. "Fine, fine, I'll volunteer." She walked down as the host pulled two slips out, reading them, and trying to not to laugh.

"Oh, gross!" He looked at Selena, who was now next to him and asked, "Would You Rather… eat a handful of hair or lick one of the communal toilet?"

Selena didn't even look slightly freaked out at the thought of doing either, but after thinking for a while, she asked, "Who's hair?"

Chris shrugged. "I dunno. Some greasy hippy's, I think. I bought it on eBay…"

"And it's… from his head, right?"

"… Maybe."

She shrugged and told him, "Bring on the hair, McClean."

Chris whistled and Tamyra and Marina walked back on stage, Tamyra carrying a chair and Marina rolling a table, covered by a pure white tablecloth and holding a lit candlestick. It would have looked nice if it wasn't for the mound of stringy, brown hair on the plate smack in the middle of the table. Tamyra placed the chair behind the table and Selena quietly sat down. Marina handed her a fork and quietly whispered, "I'm so sorry you have to do this. I think it's cruel…" She and Tamyra left without another word.

Selena stabbed the pile of hair with her fork, trying to collect some on the utensil. However, it wasn't really working, since the grimy hair kept slipping off it. Looking from the fork to the hair, as if making a decision, she shrugged, tossed the fork behind her back, with someone yelping in pain afterwards. She dove head-first into the plate of hair, not even using her hands. It wasn't long before the entire stack of hair was gone.

Her fellow campers just looked at her in disgust, shocked that she actually ate it. Jovie was even so disgusted, she threw up, though she was luckily sitting on the side. Chef walked over to the vomit with a bucket, a mop, and a grimace.

With a gulp, Selena swallowed, then stood up. She had some hair stuck to her lip, looking like a greasy handlebar mustache. She ripped it off and crammed it into her mouth. "Okay, that wasn't the greatest thing I've ever eaten, but it beats Aunt Pearl's tuna casserole."

"Nice work, Selena," Chris motioned toward her seat. "You may be seated. You're safe… for now."

* * *

"I gotta admit," LeShawna began, "White girl sure don't look like it, but she's got guts… Guts full of some nasty hippy's hair."

* * *

Selena walked back up to her seat, looking practically unaffected. But after she sat down, she started coughing. She politely covered her mouth, and when she was done hacking, she found a poofy hairball in her hand. She tossed it aside casually, as if it had happened to her before.

"Um… Okaaaay," Chris tried to break his horrified glance at her, focusing on the campers on the lower rows. "Next up, Jamal."

"Yeah, bring it on, man!" Jamal bounded down to the host, rushing to his side. "I can take anything you can throw at me!"

Chris pulled two new slips out, reading them silently to himself. "Even wasps?"

Jamal's confident expression disappeared. "W-w-w-w-w… _wasps_?"

* * *

"Have I ever mentioned that I have a huge phobia of wasps?" Jamal asked, fear glinting in his beady brown eyes. "When I was seven, I was just minding my own business, you know, throwing rocks at some wasps' nest. Then, for some reason beyond my understanding, the freaky things swarmed out and attacked me! It scarred me for life!" He shuddered. "I can take a lot of things, but there are only two things I cannot handle." He held up and hand and touched his black eye. "One is protective, hardened criminal brothers…" His hand dropped back down to his side and he added, "and the other is wasps…"

* * *

"Yep, it's a weird coincidence, these challenges…" The host read the slips over one more time and asked, "Would You Rather… be _stung_ by a wasp or _eat _a _dead _one?"

The Jamaican-Canadian weight-lifter was sweating bullets, trying to decide which would help him get over his fear most. He'd have to face it eventually… Better now than never. "The first one. Bring on the sting!"

Chris grinned. His victim picked the one that would be the most fun for him. "If you say so, big guy. Mia! Bring out the wasp!"

Mia quickly walked on stage, an old mayonnaise jar in her hands. Though it was hard to see, a small wasp was speedily buzzing around in there, eager to escape. She handed it to Chris, but didn't leave. "What?" she asked when Chris stared at her. "I wanna watch this."

"I like your style," Chris commented, slowly twisting the lid off. He turned back toward Jamal, pressing the unscrewed lid down so that the wasp wouldn't be released too early. "You ready, dude?"

"As I'll ever be," Jamal sighed, fists clenched.

Without another word, Chris lifted the lid and the wasp flew out. It floated around for a while, not particularly close to it's nervous prey, but close enough to make him cringe worse than his brother when he was up against a small garden snake. The wasp got closer and closer, and Jamal was cringing more and more. It steadily made it's way toward Jamal's face, gracefully landing right on his nose.

Letting out a excruciatingly out-of-character shriek, Jamal batted the wasp away and fled from the stage, dreadlocks flowing in the breeze.

"…" Not a single person knew what to say. Marilee merely slapped her forehead with her palm in frustration of her teammate's incompetence.

"Well…" Chris caught the wasp back in the mayo jar, still staring at the fleeing Jamal. "Alrighty then." He twisted the lid back on, handed it to Mia and ordered, "Put the wasp back in Chef's spice rack next to the toad intestines and bring Jamal back."

"What?" Mia yelled, placing her hands snootily on her hips. "Why _me_?"

"You're the one who wanted to stay and watch," was Chris' response, smirking as Mia glared at him.

"But Holly hasn't even done anything yet!" She jabbed a finger over to Holly, who was by the edge of the stage, twirling her hair.

"She's my ego booster," Chris explained.

He clapped twice, and Holly looked up from coiling her hair around her finger, grinning at her boss. She gave him a quick thumbs up and exclaimed, "Lookin' good, host man!"

"I know!" he oh-so-modestly stated, turning back to Mia, who was less than ecstatic. Holly, meanwhile, went back to hair-twirling.

"Why did _she _get that position? Why not me?"

"You really wanna know why?" She nodded in response and he jerked a finger toward himself. "Come closer." She followed his orders. "Now close your eyes." Her eyes were shut. "It's because…" Chris whipped out his bull horn, held it up to Mia's ear and screamed into it, "**BECAUSE HOLLY DOESN'T WHINE**!"

The brunette let out a loud shriek, clapping her hands over her ears and the others cringed as well.

After getting her hearing back, she slowly stalked off to retrieve the frightened guy, mumbling something about how much she hated Chris McClean.

"Next up is…" Chris pointed from person to person, as if he couldn't choose who he wanted to torment next. Once a little brunette in the front row caught his eye, he grinned and pointed directly at her. "Grace."

Grace's expression was less than thrilled. She was really hoping that Gwen would have been next.

Chris pulled out two slips, reading them carefully. When he did, he dropped them, laughing harder than he had ever laughed before, which worried Grace greatly. "Oh, oh, oh, oh-ho-ho!" Chris couldn't even talk for a while, he was laughing so hard. "Th-th-th-this is great! This is too great!" He waved Marina and Tamyra over toward him and whispered in their ears between laughs. They walked off stage, and Marina returned rolling a covered table on the far side of the stage. And suddenly, A giant box covered in a white tarp, most likely delivered by Tamyra, fell on stage, making a clacking metal sound. "Okay, for the next challenge, we'll need the help of two special guests. Come on up, girls!"

A familiar blonde and a muscular girl walked up next to Chris and the competitors stared at them confusedly, seeing the two ex campers. "You all remember Lindsay and Eva, right?"

Lindsay, seeing two of her old friends, grinned and waved. "Hi, Brent! Hi, Gretchen!" Trent and Gwen weakly waved back at her, not impressed by the fact that she still didn't remember their names.

Eva merely glared at the contestants in front of her.

The host walked over to the first covered thing and yanked the sheet off, revealing a cooking table, complete with ingredients and several knifes and utensils. "You've have two options, Grace. Either eat poisonous blowfish sushi prepared by the lovely Lindsay," Chris said as Lindsay walked behind the table, picking up a knife and playing around with it. He lifted the tarp off of the second thing brought on stage, revealing a giant metal cage, with large bars close enough together so that nobody, no matter how petite, could slip through. The handsome host opened the door for the buff girl, who crankily walked in, listening to her MP3 player. "Or try to last in the steel death cage with the brutal Eva for ten seconds…" Chris snatched the device from her, headphones and all, and slammed the door. Eva, who had seemed strangely calm up until that point, growled ferociously, clawing out one of the slots and frightening Grace even more than she already was before.

"So…" Chris' grin was wider than ever. "What'll it be?"

* * *

"I really didn't know what to pick…" Grace was ringing her hands anxiously, eyes darting around as if she thought she was going to get attacked by either Eva or poisonous raw fish. "Both were pretty bad…" She sighed. "But at least with Lindsay, I had a _chance_ of living… I mean, Trent lived when he ate it, right?" She laughed it off, but still didn't look very reassured.

* * *

Grace hugged Trent's arm, then whispered to him, "I love you. If I die, make sure Josie from across the street doesn't get my toys. She's a butt face…" That statement made Trent, who had already been worried enough for his younger sister's health, was now extremely horrified as to what would happen. It was kind of ironic how she got that particular challenge. Sure, he had survived, but barely at that. He wasn't sure if her little body could handle it or not.

The tiny brunette walked slowly over to her seat behind the table, avoiding Eva's thrashing hand poking out at her from between the cage bars as she did. A few of the campers who knew how horrible she really was couldn't help but smirk. Gwen's smile was the biggest, but when Trent turned to her for comfort, it immediately flashed to one of fake, but convincing, sadness. She grabbed Trent's hand and gave it a squeeze, which at least got a small smile out of him.

As Grace crawled onto the pile of phonebooks on her new chair behind the table, Lindsay tried comforting her by telling her, "Don't worry, Gertie, I've been practicing my sushi making since last year."

"Really?" Grace breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeah! My dog Mr. Sparkles was the taste tester."

"Did he like it?"

"Um…" Lindsay scratched her head, then looked back down at her and sheepishly grinned. "Well, on the bright side, I got him the cutest little coffin and headstone!"

That comment made the little girl's entire face pale.

The group watched in fascination and horror as Lindsay poked and prodded the puffed-up fish until it exploded, like a teeny atomic bomb. Some raw fish chunks landed in Grace's hair, so the blonde quickly pulled them out, nervously squealing apologies to her as she tossed them back onto the plate.

In all honesty, the dish looked like something that had already been digested and vomited back up onto the plate. Even with a mustard smiley face on it.

Lindsay bit her pinky nail, trying to figure out what to do to make the 'meal' seem more appealing. When inspiration came, she quickly dug through a small produce bag, pulling out a small spring of some green leafage, placing it on the side of the mush. "Voila! Parsley makes everything better!" She whispered to the camera, as if it was some secret chef's recipe. She stuck a fork in the slop and shoved the plate in front of Grace.

Shakily grabbing the fork, she plucked it out, a wiggly glop of fish clinging to the spokes. She turned back to Chris, fear in her eyes instead of her usual hatred. "D-do I have to?"

"If you wanna win, yeah." Chris nodded, smirking. He walked right next to her seat, wanting to get a close-up view. Grace pouted, but turned back to the disgusting bite, slowly bringing it up to her mouth. Seconds passed, a dramatic drum roll being played by an unknown source.

The campers leaned forward in their seats, and the tension was so thick, Xavier actually tried to cut through it with a knife. Where he got it, nobody knew.

Eventually, the bite made it into her mouth, and was chewed and swallowed. Grace opened her eyes and looked around, as if she was expecting something terrible to happen to her, like her head exploding. However, her head stayed in contact with her body. She smiled a relieved smile. "This is yummy!"

She finished off the rest of the tasty fish paste on her plate, and Chris groaned, stomping his foot like a spoiled little kid. "Aww, man! I was hoping you'd at least blow chunks!" He turned back to Lindsay, annoyance flaring in his beady eyes. "Some good you were, Iron Chef. I told you to screw up and make that poisonous slop you made last year!"

Lindsay gasped, rather shocked at the host. "I would never do that to such a little cutie!" She patted Grace on the head, who didn't notice because she was still scraping the remains from her plate onto her fork. "I didn't even _mean_ to do that to Troy." She waved at Trent and sheepishly grinned. "Sorry again!" With that, she walked off stage, triumphantly grinning at her accomplishment.

"Whatever, I guess she passes this round," Chris mumbled, rolling his eyes.

Grace shoved the squeaky clean plate aside, and just as she was about to get down from her seat, she got the strangest twinge in her stomach. She gripped her belly, moaning in pain. This got an interested eyebrow cock from the host. "Whoa, what's this? You feeling okay?"

"No," she answered, shaking her head. "M-my tummy hurts…"

Just the answer he was hoping for. "Oh, does it?" He grinned at the camera, giving it a small wink.

Trent's relived smile disappeared, along with Gwen's disappointed frown.

As Grace continued to moan and groan, you couldn't help but notice the strange shade of blue she was turning. After a long moan, she couldn't even bare to sit upright anymore, and fell backwards. Small gagging noises followed.

* * *

Gwen happily sighed, looking happier than she had been in a while. "This just goes to show; karma really is a bit-"

* * *

"Grace!" Trent jolted up, running over to her spot behind the table. She was noisily twitching in a small puddle of her own vomit, bluer than ever. He looked up at Chris and yelled, "Why are you just standing there, man?" He pointed down at her jittery body and added, "She needs help! Get Chef or someone that actually _has_ a medical degree or-"

"Okay, okay, sheesh," Chris told him, holding his hands up in surrender. He whistled, and Chef appeared in his not-so-sexy nurse's uniform. "Dude, does that thing still fit you?" He laughed and said, "You have gotten a bit of a gut since last year…"

"Quiet, fool!" Chef screamed, picking up Grace by her ponytail as puke leaked out from the corner of her mouth. "You know I'm sensitive about my weight! You're the only reason I'm doing Weight Watchers!" He moodily stormed off with the sick girl in his grip.

Gwen could feel Trent's pain practically oozing onto her. She had to do something. "Chris," Gwen stood up, attracting everyone's attention "Can Trent just have invincibility for this challenge? Watching that must have been torture enough."

Trent gratefully smiled at his girlfriend and Chris looked skeptically at her for a second, then shrugged. "Sure. I guess I could give you invincibility for this challenge so you can spend these last few hours with Barfy McGee, since she could possibly die…"

"Not funny, man!" Trent ran off to catch up to the his sister and the tough nurse.

"Well," Chris turned to the camera. "I guess this is the perfect opportunity to take a commercial break. How will the rest of the campers handle the challenge? Who will fail and who will triumph? Will Mia bring Jamal back alive? W-"

"Will you ever shut your trap?" LeShawna interrupted, tired of his cliffhanger questions.

"Good question, LeShawna!" He turned back to the camera, still grinning. "Find out the answers to all of these questions, or at least most of them, after the break! Stay tuned, for **Total! Sibling! Rivalry!"**

* * *

I got the thing that happened to Heather's shirts from Mean Girls… XP

But I finally got a decent amount of intern-ness in here, but there'll be much more in the next few chapters, I promise!

And evil Grace finally gets some comeuppance! Ha ha! Isn't that a cool word? COMEUPPANCE!

Oh, and antiseptic spray's that stingy stuff you spray on cuts to get rid of germs, in case you didn't know. I didn't. I've always called it boo-boo spray XD

I might not update this for quite a while, just so you know. I'll be gone for five days with my youth group in two weeks. I'm not saying where we're going so you can't come and stalk me or something, but just know I won't be anywhere near a computer.

Oh, and I'd just like to take the time to thank ironbloodaika for the challenge idea, along with several future ones. You rock! :D

Click that little greenish button down there to make me uber happy! :3


	15. Day 4, Part 2: No, I'd Rather Not

Well, last update before I go on my trip. Leave me lots of reviews to greet me when I get back!

DJ joined in on the pranking off camera, btw. Just thought it'd be a waste to write the scene.

So this chapter's actually kinda short, compared to the past few. Hope it's adequate. Next chapter will have more, fo sho. :D

Well, please read, review and, of course, enjoy!

* * *

"And welcome back, TV audience!" Chris greeted to the camera, grinning his signature grin. "During the break, we took the liberty of challenging a few more campers. Let's see what you missed!"

* * *

LeShawna quietly slipped a pair of rubber gloves on, biting her lip. She took the lid off of the glass aquarium in front of her, lifting a squishy jellyfish out. Regretful for choosing to do this, she puckered her lips and slowly pulled the jellyfish closer to her face, until her lips touched its surface, shocking her immediately. She dropped the blobby fish on the ground, her long ponytail sticking straight up and her left eye twitching. The buzz of failure buzzed, since she had not kissed the jellyfish for ten seconds straight. Marina rushed over to the jellyfish immediately, putting the creature back in it's aquarium.

Sighing, she removed the gloves, tossed them to Chris, and headed to the Loser Stands, trying to smooth out the stiff mess she now called her hair.

* * *

Selena slid the headphones over her ears and got comfortable in her seat. She looked content with her decision at first, until 'Surfin' Bird' started blaring from the headphones. Selena screamed, ripped them off, and threw them as far away from her as possible.

Tamyra had to come get her and take her to the Loser Stands. Mainly because Selena wouldn't get up, too busy rocking back and forth in the fetal position.

* * *

DJ took one look at the dog in front of him, turned back to Chris and said, "You know what, there's no way am I Frenching this thing!" The buzz of failure buzzed.

* * *

Jovie, kneeling on the ground, gulped as Owen removed his shoe. He took a seat and stuck his foot out at her. She stuck her tongue out, and the tip of it didn't even touch the bottom of his foot before she turned around and threw up. The buzz of failure buzzed.

* * *

Cody looked over the two slips Chris had handed him for the fifth time. He looked back at the host and cocked an eyebrow at him. "Chris, neither of these things are legal."

"There are in some countries," Chris told him matter-of-factly.

"Not in _Canada_, though!"

"Are you gonna do them or not? We don't have all day, man."

Cody sighed, handed him the papers back, and went to take his new seat. The buzz of failure buzzed.

* * *

Marilee was sitting on a stool, with the farm girl herself, Beth, standing right in her face. She was repeating the same phrase over and over. "Thhe thold theathells by the theathore, thhe thold theathells by the theathore, thhe thold theathells by the theathore, thhe thold theathells by the theathore-" She continued the mantra for a while, and Marilee calmly flinched with each bit of spittle that splattered her face. After a while, however, her eye started to twitch in annoyance. She clamped a hand over Beth's lisping mouth, stood up, and walked to the Loser Stands without a word. The buzz of failure was heard.

* * *

"Just one chip?" Owen asked, staring at the large bowl of potato chips before him.

"Yes." Chris nodded and held up a finger. "Just. ONE."

He chuckled. "Big deal!" The lovable oaf took a chip and gobbled it down. He grinned triumphantly at the camera and gave it a thumbs up. Then he looked back down at the chips.

The chip he had was really good. It wasn't too greasy, like most chips. Even he didn't like too much grease. It burned his lips… But that chip didn't. Beads of sweat were building on his forehead as he longingly stared at the tempting bowl. So crunchy… yummy… potatoey.

It wasn't long before Owen dumped the entire bowl in his hungry mouth. He munched happily, making 'om nom nom' noises. The buzz of failure buzzed.

"What?" Owen questioned as his teammates angrily glared at him. "They were potatoey!"

* * *

"Fun, right?" Chris asked, grinning bigger than ever.

"You're not the one who had to listen to Surfin' Bird!" Selena yelled from the Loser Stands.

"Chris!" Tamyra yelled. "How could you find any of this fun?"

"Yeah, just look what happened to the poor jellyfish!" Marina protested, getting a glare from LeShawna.

"Seriously, Chris, couldn't you give these people a break?" Holly asked

Chris actually looked hurt by their comments. "It's like you girls don't know me at all…" He regained his happy demeanor, turning back to the camera. "Well, there are only five campers left!" He motioned to Candace, Duncan, Zack, and Keith, then his eyes widened when he realized someone was missing. "Wait, just a darn minute… Where's Izzy?"

*T*S*R*

Izzy slowly crept through the bushes, her camouflage cap on and a tranquilizer gun in her hands. She adjusted her protective orange glasses and peered at her prey.

"Jamal, get down here, you big crybaby!" Mia yelled up at the muscular wimp, who was clinging to a very high tree branch in fear.

"No! Th-The wasp might come back!"

She rolled her eyes and told him, "I already put the stupid wasp back, so calm down and get your butt back to the amphitheater!" Jamal still shook her head no.

Izzy jumped out of the bush, yelled "BONZAI!" and fired, hitting the target perfectly.

You know, if her target had been Mia instead of Jamal.

The brunette woozily swayed back and forth, until she finally couldn't stand anymore, falling back. The tranquilizing dart had been shot right in the back of her head. Izzy stood frozen, looking at her mistake.

"Whoops…."

* * *

"I was just trying to help Mia out!" Izzy said, shrugging. "Jamal seemed too wiled up to handle by herself. And, being shot by many tranquilizers in the past, I knew that would help her out big time." She scratched her chin and shrugged again. "I guess I didn't calculate for the wind… Oh, speaking of wind, this one time my grandma ate too many beans and-"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Chris shrugged. "Oh, well." I guess she forfeits." He turned back to the stands and said, "Candace, I'm actually surprised you made it this far."

She happily blushed and said, "Nothing much really bothers me, is all…"

"Well, let's see if this bothers you…" Chris pulled out two new slips and read, "Would You Rather… wear a suit of armor or an itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini for the rest of the challenge?"

Tamyra regretfully dragged out a suit of armor, a small bikini hanging off of it.

Candace shrugged and walked down, grabbing the bikini and heading to the washrooms to change. A few of the guys were extra glad she had chosen that one, high-fiving each other, except Owen, of course. He was too busy licking the bowl formerly filled with the chips clean to even notice his sister's challenge.

She returned, clad in the bikini, and happily sat down next to Keith, who couldn't help but stare at her cleavage. He received an angry glare from Marilee in the Loser Stands.

* * *

"Me and Keith?" Marilee asked. "Puh-leeze!" She waved a hand. "That's ridiculous. I wasn't jealous or anything. I just didn't want him ogling sweet, innocent Candace." She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Why would I be jealous of the fact that I was pretty much the only girl here who's boobs he ever looked at, and now he was looking at somebody else's chest?"

Her anger melted a little, and she actually looked disappointed. "I mean, it was actually sort of flattering, a boy only having eyes for _your_ boobs… Having him hit on _you_ the most…" She realized what she just said and her eyes widened. "No, wait, I didn't mean that! I want a do-over!" She punched the camera and yelled, "Gimme that tape! I need to destroy it!"

* * *

"Chris, that's just demeaning!" Holly protested, walking up to the host.

"Yeah, seriously!" Tamyra agreed.

"Sheesh," Chris mumbled. "Last year's interns weren't so spoken-minded…" He shrugged and added, "Granted, none of them were hot, so… It all evens out."

Duncan looked down at Zack from the top row, trying to glare a hole into the back of his head. Crossing his arms, he looked over to the Loser Stands, where Geoff and DJ were sitting in the back row. They noticed that he was looking at them, so they shrugged, as if to ask, 'Now?'

Duncan nodded in response, a smirk on his lips.

DJ and Geoff silently slipped out of their seats and snuck behind the curtains of the stage. Geoff took one jar off its table, and DJ the other, both making sure that only their hands could be seen, at the most. They put new ones in their places, going pretty much unnoticed.

"Okay, it's you turn, Zack," Chris stated, walking over to the replaced jars, pulling out two slips. After he did, Geoff and DJ replaced the new jars with the originals again.

Selena, who was too afraid to watch her friend be tortured, looked to the side, seeing that Geoff and DJ, who had been sitting right beside her, were gone. When they came back a few seconds later, she asked, "Where'd you guys run of to?"

"W-what?" Geoff stuttered, poorly trying to hide his nerves. "We, uh, went, uh… bathroom!"

Selena raised an eyebrow. "You couldn't have been gone for too long. I just asked if you had any munchies on you, like, a minute ago."

"Uh, we, uh, you know, um," Geoff played around nervously with his hands, trying to think of a good lie.

"You're the world's worst liar, you know that, Geoffy?" Selena smirked, crossing her arms.

"What Geoff means to say," DJ interrupted, slapping a hand of Geoff's stammering mouth, "is that we went, uh, you know, number one." He nodded. "Lot quicker for guys."

"But there's like a two minute commute from here to the washrooms and since you went there and back-"

"You ask a lot of questions about people's trips to the bathroom, you know that, girl?" DJ asked, still trying to cover.

* * *

"I really hated lying to Selena," Geoff said, slumping guiltily. "and I knew DJ hated it just as much as I did, but we knew we had to. After all, we were only pranking Zack to defend her honor. Duncan's my bro, so that makes Selena my, uh, sis, I guess. Now, you guys know I'm pretty chill, but hearing what Zack did to her really makes me mad!" He adjusted his hat and continued, "She's so sweet and caring… She kinda reminds me of Bridgette, in a way."

He covered his mouth and added, "Not that I'd want to date her or anything! I mean she's pretty and all but-" He slapped his forehead a few times in frustration. "No no no! I'd never date her! She's, like, four years younger than me! Ew!" He shook his head again. "Not that I find her gross or anything! If she were a few years older… Wait, no! I mean-" He slapped himself in the forehead again and groaned, "Man, I hope Selena and Duncan don't see this…"

* * *

"Hmm," Chris mumbled, reading over the slips. "I don't remember writing these two…" He looked back up at Zack and asked, "Would You Rather… Be kicked off the island immediately or try to survive in the steel death cage with Eva, a bear, and a wasp for ten seconds?"

Zack looked about ready to pee his pants, and everybody gasped, except Chris and Duncan. Even DJ and Geoff. They had had no idea what torturous task Duncan had stuffed into the jars.

* * *

"Okay, maybe I'm starting to wander too far out of pranking territory," Duncan admitted, shrugging. "and more into homicidal territory… But, hey, he needed to pay. And _that_ seemed like a good price range to me."

* * *

"So, Zack," Chris began, looking pretty euphoric for what was to come. "What'll it be?

*T*S*R*

Trent bit his lip as he stared at sick little Grace, who was laying on a lumpy cot looking into space with lazy eyes. He had no idea what would come of her. And Chef wasn't much help, with his harsh idea of tender, loving care.

"Okay, maggot," Chef began, walking into the infirmary tent. "Time for the mini maggot's shot."

"Aw, man," Trent winced. "The shot. I hated the shot." He started rolling up Grace's sleeve, until Chef stopped him.

"What do you think you're doin'?"

"Um… getting her ready. You had to roll up my sleeve for my shot last year."

Chef got out his needle, watching the purple fluid wade around in it. "Well, this medication's different than last year's. Apparently the one I gave you last year could cripple someone her size, so I had to go with a weaker one. But this one don't go in her arm."

Trent arched an eyebrow. "Okay, uh, where does it go, then? Her leg?"

Chef shook his head no.

"Uh… Back?"

"You're getting warmer…"

Trent sympathetically frowned at his sister. He started flipping her over and she groggily squealed her disapproval.

* * *

"Man, poor kid…" Trent scratched the back of his head. "She won't be able to sit down for a week…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

* * *

"Okay, I knew the first challenge wasn't an option," Zack began, nervously shaking his head. "Sure, I'd probably die dealing with Eva and all them, but at least I'd pass the round and not get voted off!"

* * *

Zack fearfully got up from his seat, taking his place by Chris. The handsome host, still grinning like a kid about to get a new toy, yelled, "Bring the cage back out!" Everybody waited a few seconds, but none of the remaining interns came out. "Um… Didn't you hear me?"

"Oh, we heard you alright," Tamyra told him as she stormed on stage with Holly and Marina close behind.

"Yeah, and we're drawing the line!" Holly yelled, getting ready to smack him with her copy of _Twilight_, until she realized what it was, then started petting it, whispering her apologies.

"You can't keep doing this to these people," Marina commented, looking angriest of all. "Especially to these animals! First the wasp, then the jellyfish, then the shark that Herbie had to bite, then the crab that Zoey had to step on, then the pig that Owen had to wrestle…" She looked down at her feet. "Poor thing didn't stand a chance…."

* * *

"I'm not exactly a pro wrestler, so I just did a move that I know best…" Owen happily laughed, then rubbed his belly. "Oinkers was tasty…"

* * *

"You could get sued for harming those animals, you know," Marina told him, glaring.

"Nope, I really can't." He pulled out a giant stack of papers, tossing them to Tamyra, who almost fell down from the weight. "Those critters all signed medical waivers, saying I wasn't responsible for any harm that came to them… Or if they got eaten." The girls looked through the documents, seeing almost all of them littered with paw, tentacle, hoof, stinger, fin, and claw prints, right where the signatures should have been. "Their little animal lawyers can't touch me!"

"… Crap." Tamyra mumbled, thrusting the papers back into his hands. "Guess he's got us beat." All three walked off stage to retrieve the cage. They returned almost immediately, rolling the cage back into it's place. Eva, who had never been released due to fear that she'd attack the first person she could get her hands on, was madder than ever. The recently added bear actually looked scared of her. Not to mention the wasp, who was hiding behind the bear to protect itself from scary Eva.

Zack took a deep breath, steadily walking over to the cage, which Chris eagerly stood by, ready to open the cage door. Sweat was clearly visible on his face, and his expression further proved his obvious fright. Selena looked very freaked out, too. She couldn't even watch, having to bury her face in Geoff's arm.

Just after Chris opened the door, a wild cry echoed throughout the amphitheater. A familiar cry.

Izzy came bursting the curtains, ripping them off the rod and dropping them on Chris and Zack so they both disappeared from sight. An unconscious Mia was tossed on one shoulder, a still jittery Jamal on the other, which was a miracle considering his muscle mass made him over twice her size.

The redhead flung Jamal into the cage and slammed the door shut. "Brought him back!" She let out a Tarzan-like cry, thumped on her chest with her free hand, and added, "Now, I have a paralyzed meanie to help!" She tipped her camouflage hat at the others, and raced off without another word.

Jamal stood up, rubbing his head that had been hit during the fling. He looked at his cage mates, Eva and the bear, who both growled at him, striking menacing poses. "Oh…" He waved coolly. "Hi."

The wasp slowly peeked out from behind the bear's back, and the weight-lifter's eyes widened. He screamed, rattling the cage bars furiously. "**LEMME OUT OF HERE!**"

Zack removed the curtain, watching and flinching as Jamal quickly got attacked by the three menaces. "To heck with this…" He walked to the Loser Stands, fearful eyes as big as saucers.

Duncan snapped his fingers disappointedly.

Geoff looked down, seeing that Selena was still burying her face into his arm. "Uh… It's over, bra. Zack chickened out. You can let go now."

She didn't budge. Instead, she sniffed his sleeve, let out a giddy sigh and, though muffled, said, "You use Febreeze, don't you?"

*T*S*R*

Chef slapped a bandage on Grace's butt, even though her skirt had already been put back on after her shot. As she gurgled in pain, a little more barf oozed out of the corner of her mouth.

Trent winced. "Ooooh, sorry, kiddo. I know that hurts… Must hurt more for you, though… Considering where it was given."

Suddenly, Izzy came bursting through the tent flaps, throwing Mia facedown onto one of the other spare cots. She had traded her hunting cap in for a nurse's hat, much like Chef's. "Don't die on me, dang it!" She slapped her on the side of the head, which made her yell muffled things into her pillow. "What?" Izzy flipped her over so she could talk more clearly, though her mental paralysis made her speech a little foggy.

"Ah sheid ah'm nod daad!"

"She's delusional!" She slapped her in the face and yelled, "Breaker-breaker! 10-4, good buddy!"

"Wud ur yew dalging abood? Dad'z drugger dalg, fweag!"

The psycho shook her wildly and screamed, "Mi gato está hecho de orina! Me gusta poner en mi ropa interior panqueques!"

"What the Sam heck is goin' on around here?" Chef stormed over to the two and Izzy dropped Mia back on the cot, facedown again. Trent watched curiously from a distance, while Grace continued to leak her bile.

"Somebody accidentally shot Mia in the back of the head," Izzy explained, poorly trying to hide the tranquilizer sticking out from the side of her skirt.

"Mmhmm. Let me see." Chef grabbed her hair and flipped her over, making her gurgle in pain. He inspected the dart sticking out of her head, nodding. "I see." He tossed her back down and started reaching toward the dart. "Okay, this needs to be done slowly… slowly…" His hand crept closer and closer, until he finally got a gentle grip on it. "Gently now…" Despite his own orders, he yanked the dart out quickly and harshly, causing a groggy scream coming from Mia.

He carelessly tossed it behind his back, causing another groggy shriek. "Chef!" Trent yelled.

"Oh, what do you want n-" When Chef turned around, he saw that the dart had landed perfectly on Grace's butt, jabbing the bandage. Her eyes were crossed and her tongue was sticking out stupidly. She was semi-conscious and fully paralyzed.

"Whoops…"

*T*S*R*

Jamal had finally been removed from the cage, and placed into the medical tent to treat his wounds an wasp sting. It was Keith's turn now. The skater boy walked up to Chris, who had taken off the curtain and was digging into both jars. He rubbed his left arm anxiously.

* * *

"Somehow, I was the only one left on our team," Keith explained. "I guess I had lucked out and gotten a bunch of easy things. But, hey, I've made it through seven rounds, how bad could the eighth be?"

* * *

Keith stared in horror at the bed of hot rocks right next to his feet, and the flame-retardant suit covered in raw steaks in Chris' hands. "Okay, put the meat suit on, buddy." He tossed it to him, still grinning. "Just roll around on the rocks for about fifteen minutes, until the steaks are about, say, medium well. And try not to burn your face. Or hands. The medical tent is already bursting at the seams."

Keith took one look at the rest of his teammates then flung the suit back at Chris and headed over to the Loser Stands. His teammates groaned in disappointment, and the Killer Bears cheered victoriously, rushing the stage.

"Dang it," Chris whined, looking sadly down at the meat-covered suit. "That was gonna be our dinner…"

* * *

"Really?" Marilee asked. "We lost a third time?" She paused, then threw her hands up in the air and yelled, "**SERIOUSLY?**"

* * *

Candace ran out of the stands, still in her bikini, and death-hugged the nearest teammate, which happened to be Cody. "Yay! We won!"

With his face practically crammed into her breasts, Cody flushed seven shades of red. "… Yaaaaaay…"

* * *

Cody looked around embarrassedly, then back at the camera. "Don't judge me…"

* * *

"Wow," Chris mused, looking at the Rabid Wolves. "Yet another loss. Why am I not surprised?" He got beamed in the head with Owen's chip bowl. "Ow!" He clutched his head and glared as the losers laughed at his pain. "Who threw that?"

Keith and Marilee, in the back of the group, high-fived. "Nice arm, Mar!"

Chris shook the pain away and turned back to the camera. "Well, there you have it, folks! Tune in next episode to find out how our injured pals are doing, who will be voted off, and if I'll become handsomer by the time we get back."

He grinned, until someone off camera, sounding much like Marilee, shouted, "Don't worry, he won't!"

Chris mumbled something inaudible under his breath and sighed. "Whatever. Just tune in."

* * *

Bonus points to anyone who can translate Mia's mumbles or Izzy's Spanish! :D


	16. Day 4, Part 3: I'd Rather Win Than Go

Woot! I finally update :D I had so much fun on my mission trip. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :3

**Last Chapter's Translations!**

"Ah sheid ah'm nod daad!"- "I said I'm not dead!""Wud ur yew dalging abood? Dad'z drugger dalg, fweag!"- "What are you talking about? That's trucker talk, freak!""Mi gato esta hecho de orina! Me gusta poner en mi ropa interior panqueques!"- My cat is made of urine! I like putting pancakes in my underwear!"

Don't ask about the Spanish ones. I tried to make them as WTF as possible XD But congrats to all of you who guessed. Most of you were either right or very close!

Don't try guessing what Grace is saying this chapter, though. Please don't, cuz even I don't know. Seriously, I just typed random letters. XD

Read, review, and enjoy, peeps!

* * *

Trent rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes as he walked out of the medical tent. He needed to get out of the tent for a few seconds, since he had been in there for hours. Not to mention the fact that it was bursting at the seams with sick or injured contestants, making it crowded and uncomfortable. He was surprised to see Gwen walking toward the tent, since she seemed like she'd want to avoid gross, sick people.

She smiled when she saw him. "Hey there. How's Grace doing?"

"She's hanging in there." Trent rubbed his neck and said, "Actually, she's getting over it pretty quick. Chef says she'll be up and going by tonight at the latest." He looked down at his feet sadly. "I just hope one of us doesn't get voted off tonight."

"Worry not. The other team lost… again." She offered him a small grin, which he slowly returned. "More importantly, how are _you _doing?"

Her boyfriend cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"This whole fiasco couldn't have been easy on you. You must have been worried sick."

"Oh, you have no idea…" He sat down on a large rock nearby and Gwen took a seat next to him.

"I think I do. If something like that happened to Zack, I wouldn't even know what I'd do… Go with him or stay behind so I wouldn't have to see him in so much pain…" She grinned and placed her hand over the one he had placed on her knee. "But you knew exactly what you wanted to do. You wanted to be there, by her side." She leaned into his side comfortably. "You're such a nice, caring person, Trent."

"Thanks…" Trent grinned and mumbled, "I wish I could say the same for you…"

Gwen shoved him off the boulder and he landed with an 'Oof!" You could tell by her expression that she had only been kidding. Grinning, she shook her head. "Trent, Trent, Trent… You should know by now not to mess with me."

*T*S*R*

Selena sat down on the grass near the mess hall and tenderly placed a bandage on her sister's foot, covering the wound. "Wow, I honestly can't believe you didn't even cry when you stepped on that crab's snapper, but you threw a screaming tantrum on your last dare. You seriously couldn't have just eaten one piece of broccoli?"

She cocked an eyebrow at Zoey, who guiltily grinned.

Just then, Courtney walked up to the sisters. She wanted to check on Zoey to see if her foot was okay, but was really hoping that she could do it when Selena left. The two hadn't spoken since Selena's little outburst, and Courtney couldn't help but resent her for it. "Is your foot better, Zoey?"

The little girl nodded happily.

Courtney grinned, then gave Selena her attention when she stood up and cleared her throat. "Um… Courtney, I've kind of been wanting to tell you something. Since, you know, what happened yesterday."

The former CIT raised an eyebrow at this. "Really?"

* * *

"I knew it!" Courtney exclaimed victoriously. "I knew it had to be some misunderstanding. Seriously, someone… who **doesn't** like me?" She laughed and continued, "I scoff at the thought!"

* * *

"Yeah, so about what I told you…" Selena's nervous face turned serious and she said, "I meant every word I said."

Courtney's eyes widened, but was surprisingly silent. "Are… are you _kidding me_?"

"…No."

"Okay, okay, wait a minute…" She grasped her forehead, as if she was developing headache from just trying to _fathom _the idea. "Are you saying that you _don't _like me?"

"Well, I'd probably use a stronger word, like 'hate'," the blonde air-quoted 'hate' and kept going, "But, yeah, that's pretty much exactly what I'm saying. Sheesh, I thought you were supposed to be all smart or something…"

Courtney glared at her, fists clenched, trying to contain herself from saying something she was going to regret saying in front of the camera. Zoey was hiding behind her own hands, as if that would make them and their arguing disappear.

"I mean, I pretended to like you just so Dunk wouldn't get mad at me," Selena shrugged, still not looking the least bit guilty for the things she was saying. "But now that it's all out in the open, hey, why try to keep falsifying things, right?"

"My gosh…" She continued to glare at her. "You look so sweet on the outside… Most of the time you even act like it… I don't think I've ever really seen this terrible side of you."

Selena shrugged again. "What can I say? I only show it to people who I really dislike." With that, she turned on her heels and walked off without another word.

* * *

"Man, I really hate letting my inner cow out…" Selena sighed, slumping. "But Courtney seriously gets on my nerves, with 'CIT' this, and 'CIT' that." She threw her hands in the air and yelled, "We get it already, ya broken record!"

* * *

Courtney, who didn't even know what to do next, felt a small amount of weight added to her lower legs. She looked down, seeing Zoey clinging to her legs.

Zoey looked up at her with her big, green eyes and said, "_I_ still like you…"

Though it didn't really help to make anything better, Courtney couldn't help but smile. _At least one of my boyfriend's sisters likes me…_

*T*S*R*

Duncan, who had been thanking DJ and Geoff for their help, even though Zack didn't go through with his insane challenge, was now sitting on stump in a secluded place by the bonfire pit. He was widdling away at a broken branch that he had found nearby, just to do something with his hands while thinking. "Maybe I should just let the little twerp off with a warning…" He mused to himself. He shook his head and smirked. "Nah, messing with him is waaaay too much fun, anyway…"

Duncan couldn't help but notice LeShawna and Marilee, who must have been on their way to the bonfire ceremony that was to take place in a few minutes. Looking around, he was surprised that he hadn't even noticed that night had fallen. He dropped his super sharp stick, put his switchblade away and tried to figure out what the two girls were talking about.

LeShawna looked very concerned, trying to reach out to something on the blonde's face. Marilee gently kept her hand away, trying to calm her down by saying something. LeShawna seemed resistant to what she was saying at first, but shrugged and waved as she walked toward the lit ceremony, where the others had already arrived.

Marilee stayed behind, fiddling with the thing on her face that Duncan still couldn't identify. He finally just walked up to her and spun her around, making her squeal in embarrassment.

Duncan took one look and then laughed at what was on the right side of her face; an eye patch.

He scoffed and asked, "What's with the eye patch, Captain Hooker?"

Marilee's uncovered eye narrowed and she was about to insult him back, but knew she couldn't avoid his question without looking like she was hiding something bad. "Um… I…"

* * *

"C'mon, Marilee," Marilee encouraged herself, trying to place the tip of the pen in her hand on the slip of paper on her lap. "Just vote Keith off. He cost us the challenge! There's no reason to keep him on! Write his name down _now_!" Her writing hand flew up and away from the paper completely, so she grabbed her wrist with her other hand and tried dragging it down. "Do it, do it, do it!"

No matter how hardly she forced her hand down, it wouldn't stay down. She couldn't bring herself to vote Keith off. Finally, her left hand lost all it's strength and released her right wrist, making it launch her arm back up and poke herself in the eye with the pen. Marilee dropped the pen, screamed in pain and slapped both hands over her poked peeper. "MY EYE!"

* * *

"Well, uh…" She knew she couldn't confess why she was struggling so much, for she knew that Duncan would think it meant she liked Keith too much to vote him off. But that so wasn't why! At least that's what she kept trying to tell herself… "Uh… Uh…" She finally just scrunched her face up, spat, "What's up with _your face _being so _ugly_?" and stormed over to the ceremony.

She couldn't even hear Duncan's sarcastic "Ooooh, good one!" as she ran off.

*T*S*R*

Once Marilee had taken her seat and Chris and Chef had shown up with the plate of marshmallows, the ceremony had officially begun. "Well, well, well." The host smirked at the losers in front of him. "You guys again." He shrugged. "You know what they say, third time's the charm!" Nobody bothered to respond to that, mainly because they were all way to tired to come up with something. "Today was pretty fun, huh?" Still no response. "I'm sure it wasn't too fun for Chef, though." He patted the muscular cook's shoulder and said, "He's had more patients today than he had all of last season!" He just laughed and shrugged. "Oh, well. That's what he's getting paid for!"

"What're you babblin' about?" Chef angrily asked. "I haven't even gotten my paycheck from _last year _yet! Where's my money at?"

"Um… uh…" Chris looked around nervously, trying to find a distraction. "Look, raccoons!" He pointed to a small family of fluffy raccoons, who were happily playing with each other under a clump of oak trees.

Chef's anger melted and he grinned. "Oh, boy! Tomorrow's dinner!" He ran off to catch the critters, who had scampered away when they saw the scary chef coming.

Chris turned around, and when her saw the camper's frightened faces, he held up his hands and reassured, "He's just kidding, folks! We'd never be able to get away with serving you guys raccoon…" He frowned and grumbled, "Those jerks at PETA would be all over my butt about it…" He shrugged. "Anyways… I'd like to congratulate you all for putting your best effort into your horrifying tasks. It's not like you _all _are to blame for your wimpiness… Blame your parents. It's probably genetic."

LeShawna, having all she could take of Chris' insults, jumped up out of her seat and yelled, "Just get on with it, McClean!"

"Okay, sheesh!" He grabbed the tray and mumbled, "Somebody's snappy today…" In a louder tone, he told her, "Well, this will make you feel better. You get the first marshmallow." He tossed her the fluffy treat. "And, since I so extremely hate separating families," He couldn't help but giggle at the falseness of that statement, "The next marshmallow goes to Jovie." He tossed her a marshmallow, too.

"DJ, you did pretty well. Can't blame you for backing out of your last challenge. And Geoff didn't do half bad, either. That's why you're both safe." Chris threw them their marshmallows, which they happily caught in their mouths.

"Izzy, even though you barely participated at all and only furthered the number of injured people on this island, you're safe, along with your brothers." He tossed Herbie, Xavier and Izzy some gooey invincibility. Izzy giddily crammed hers in her mouth.

"Yippie!" She yelled, her mouth still full.

"Patchy the Pirate gets one, too." He laughed and Marilee angrily got up to claim her marshmallow, only to cram it into one of the host's nostrils and storm back over to her seat. Embarrassed, Chris turned around so the camera couldn't see him digging the treat out of his nose while the campers laughed at his misfortune.

Once his nose was clear, he turned back around, cleared his throat like nothing had happened, and grabbed the last remaining marshmallow. "Jamal, Keith… we're down to the final marshmallow."

Jamal had been severely injured by Eva and the bear, his entire body covered in nasty scrapes, which were poorly bandaged by Nurse Chef. His left arm was sprained and placed in a sling. He even had a few wasp stings scattered here and there. The worst part was that he probably could have handled Eva and the bear if it hadn't been for the wasp scaring him too stiff to move. Still, he looked as confident as ever, even though the shiner Duncan had given him was still as swollen and purple as it was the second he had received it.

Keith, on the other hand, looked very nervous. If it wasn't for him, their team could have actually had a chance at winning. Maybe a few burns and smelling like raw meat for a few days wouldn't have been _that_ bad…

"Jamal, you wimped out on a seemingly easy challenge and showed everybody your weenie side. Not so tough now, huh?

"And Keith, you, being the last remaining contestant in the challenge, let your entire team down by chickening out. Not to mention the fact that _I _had to cook our steaks and burned them to a crisp…"

"Dude, would you want to be a human cabob?" Keith angrily asked.

Chris didn't respond. He just held the marshmallow up, right as the dramatic music started playing.

* * *

"To be honest," DJ began, "The only reason I really wanted Jamal to stay was because he's tough and brave. Now that I've seen that he's not only a jerk, but kind of a wimp to boot, what's the point?" He looked away from the camera, ashamed. "I still feel bad for voting off my own brother, though…"

* * *

"If you ask me, Keith's to blame for us losin'. That's why I voted for him," LeShawna confessed. "If that scrawny little chicken wing would have just toughed it out, we could have had a chance of winning! Candace would have lost eventually. White girl doesn't even look like she could lift a corn dog! And Duncan ain't quite as tough as he lets on, so he would have probably gone down with her." She crossed her arms. "Later, skater…"

* * *

"I don't blame Keith one bit for backing out," Jovie told the camera. "Being a vegetarian, I'm actually pretty glad he didn't do it. I just hope the others don't resent him for it."

* * *

Marilee adjusted her eye patch and sighed. "I wanted to vote off Keith, but I had some… um… complications." She shrugged and said, "So I just voted for the first person that came to mind. Not saying who, though."

* * *

Chris tossed the marshmallow from hand to hand. He finally let it rest in his right hand and said, "The camper leaving tonight is…

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"Jamal."

Jamal's confident smile disappeared, while Keith cheered as Chris tossed him his invincibility. "Wha… _What_?"

"You heard me, man. Time to walk the Dock of Shame." Chris pointed to the dock nonchalantly.

"You can't be serious!" He furiously stood up and glared at his former teammates. "You scrawny little weaklings have the nerve to vote _me _off?"

"Um…" LeShawna, unimpressed with his fury, crossed her arms and nodded. "Hecks yeah."

"Fine!" He stomped his foot childishly, whimpering because of it hurt the cut on his big toe. "Good luck without me!" He angrily stalked off toward the Dock of Shame without another word.

*T*S*R*

After Gwen had gone to dinner and the rest of the injured campers had left the tent, Trent went back in the infirmary tent to check on his sister again. It had been a couple of hours since she had explosively vomited, something Trent was very relieved about. He was down to his last clean shirt. She was still slightly blue and most of her speech came out in either gurgles or babbles, but she was at least _feeling_ better.

"Can you stand up yet?" he asked her. He remembered how long it had taken him before he could even get on his feet. Maybe she would be able to get back up quicker than he could, since she had already recovered pretty quickly.

"Gla goopy firchkun!" Grace confidently babbled. Grabbing onto his arm for support, she shakily stood up. She let go of his arm, actually standing steadily.

"See, there you go!" he cheered.

Almost immediately after saying that, her knees started wobbling and she fell flat on her back.

Trent sighed. "Oh, well. At least it's progress."

"Trey?" somebody behind him called out. Trent looked from side to side. Nobody was in the tent except him and Grace, especially not anyone named Trey. He knew who it was before he even turned around. "Yeah, Lindsay?"

Lindsay was lingering by the opening of the tent, looking almost afraid to approach either of them. "I-Is she okay?"

Trent looked back at Grace, who was still on her back and struggling to grab her pillow. "She'll be fine in a few hours. At least that's what Chef said…"

"Well," the blonde rubbed her arm nervously. "Marisol told me what my sushi did to Gertie. The boat off the island is about to leave, and I just… I…" She started crying and flung herself onto Trent, sobbing into his chest. "I'm so, sooooooo sorry I hurt her! I'm such a terrible cook!"

"Well, yeah, that last part is true…" Trent pulled her off of him and patted her shoulder comfortingly. "But don't feel bad or anything. I was fine, and Grace will be fine, too. Just… don't choose a culinary career, alright?" He gave her a warm smile, one that she returned.

"O-Okay…" she wiped away her tears and looked behind her. "Well, I guess I'd better get going. Chef has to get Jafar to Playa de Losers soon…" She waved at both siblings and said, "Bye, Treat! Get well soon, Grape!" Afterwards, she walked out of the tent and toward the Dock of Shame.

It was silent for a moment, until Trent asked, "Did… Did she just call us 'Treat' and 'Grape'?"

Grace, who had finally gotten back up and had propped her pillow in front of her so she could sit upright, gurgled "Blap frooglin zazzizazz," in response.

He nodded, like he actually understood what on earth she was saying. "Yeah… Yeah, I think she did…"

Grace shook her head at Lindsay's stupidity and commented, "Magga zooger jaggerby pokie…"

Trent's expression turned serious and he said, "Grace, you know you're not supposed to use that kind of language."

Grace pouted, slammed her tiny fists on the pillow and argued, "Glab piggelz zunk grattin bup!"

Trent looked behind his back to make sure Lindsay was gone. She was, so he told her, "I don't care if she is one…"

*T*S*R*

DJ, who still felt he still owed his brother a little bit of loyalty, waved at him and everyone else as Chef, who finally gave up on his raccoon chase, pulled the boat away from the dock with Lindsay, Eva and Jamal riding. Lindsay giddily waved back, Eva ignored him and Jamal gave him a not-so-brotherly hand gesture.

DJ sadly sighed. He knew Jamal was beyond mad at the team, including him. He was never a huge fan of his brother, but it's not like he enjoyed knowing that he _hated_ him now…

The muscular sweetheart sat down on the grass, watching the boat speed away. He could hear somebody sit down next to him. When he turned, it turned out to be Heather. "Hi, DJ. You okay?"

"Yeah…" He laid down, looking up at the twinkling stars. "It's just…" He looked at her and asked, "Am I a terrible person for voting my own brother off?"

"No, of course not," she reassured, lying down next to him. "No offence, but he was a real jerk…"

"Yeah, I guess…" He sighed again. "But it's all said and done, right?"

Heather nodded in agreement. "Might as well move on and just focus on the rest of the game."

"I guess you're right…"

"Don't worry about it, Deej. You're too nice of a guy sometimes, you know that?" She playfully smirked, and he couldn't help but grin.

"Maybe I am…" DJ yawned and stretched sleepily. "I'm gonna hit the hay. It's been a long day…" He stood up, giving Heather one last wave. "'Night, Heather."

"Good night, DJ." As DJ walked away, she continued to look up at the stars.

When DJ reached the Rabid Wolves cabin, he found Geoff sitting on the steps and also looking up at the night sky. He appeared to be deep in thought, though he was instantly snapped out of it when DJ said, "Hey, man. You thinking about Bridge again?"

Geoff nodded. "Haven't stopped thinking about her. What are you doing out here?"

DJ shrugged. "Just talking to someone."

Geoff stood up, looking him in the eyes questioningly. "You mean Heather?"

He flinched at his friend's seriousness. Was this the same Geoff who claimed to have streaked across his school with whipped cream over his privates? "Um… yeah. Is there a problem with that?"

"No, no," Geoff sat back down and DJ joined him. "Just be careful what you say around her, dude. Chicks can hurt, man." He looked down at his feet. "You start to trust them, spend so much time with them…" His frown deepened. "Tell them you love them after _every single _make out session…" DJ looked confused as Geoff related _his_ situation more to _his own_. Geoff's face scrunched up sadly, he sadly yelled, "Why, Bridgette, _why_?" and stared bawling, burying his face into DJ's strong shoulder.

"Um…" DJ slowly patted Geoff's shoulder as he continued to sob. "There, there?" He pried the glum party boy off of him, pulled him to his feet, and guided him toward their door. "You need to get some rest, bro. Your brain's all wacked out…"

As the two walked into their cabin, they barely even noticed that Keith, Herbie, and Xavier weren't in there with them. They were still at the campfire pit, along with two female teammates…

* * *

You all knew I would take advantage of Lindsay being here. If you didn't, you don't know me at all.

BTW, by Marisol, she meant Marilee. XP And let's just say Grace called Lindsay something along the lines of dumbass. I don't want my reviews filled with bad words cuz you guys want to guess… XD

_What will happen next chapter? What will the next challenge be? Why are five of the Rabid Wolves still at the campfire pit? Will Grace ever be able to walk? Will the Rabid Wolves ever win? Why am I asking you all these questions? Find out in the next e4xciting chapter of __**TOTAL SIBLING RIVALRY!**_


	17. Day 5, Part 1: Phobia Factor 2

Sorry about the review glitch last chapter, a lot of people told me they could review. It's a long story, but point is, everything should be fine this time around.

Well, this is the last challenge of the week, peeps! Then we get to see the campers who were booted off! And maybe even a little segment we like to call…. That's Gonna Leave a Mark! I know I'd totally be ripping off TDA, but you all would still like to see that, right? :D

Well, please read, review, and enjoy!

* * *

Trent helped Grace sit up, both ready to get out of that wretched tent. She had made a miraculous recovery; her skin was peachy, she didn't feel sick, and she could even stand up without someone helping her. She was still having trouble walking, though.

"Here you go, light weight," Chef said, handing Grace a small crutch. "You can use this to keep your scrawny self from falling down."

"Why only one?" Trent asked.

Chef shrugged. "Spent most of the medical budget on a hot tub for us and the interns. Had to cut somewhere…"

Trent and Grace just exchanged an unimpressed glance.

"What, you think money grows on trees, maggots?" Chef screamed, beads of spittle flying as he yelled.

"Sir, no, sir!" Trent and Grace simultaneously said, saluting the former soldier.

*T*S*R*

The five Rabid Wolves laughed as they continued to chat. They probably should have gone to bed after the ceremony ended, but has started talking and just didn't want to stop. Marilee shook her head and laughed. "Can you believe Mr. 'Roid Rage was afraid of some teeny little wasp?"

"I know!" Keith agreed. "What a wuss, right?"

"Hey, c'mon now, don't make fun of him," Jovie said, feeling bad for them being so mean to him. "It was his biggest phobia. Can you honestly say you would have faced _yours_?"

"I could," Marilee stated, crossing her arms over her chest. "_if_ I had one…"

Jovie rolled her eyes. "Please, that's such a crock."

Marilee rolled her uncovered eye, then glanced off to the side, seeing Xavier staring at her, looking ready to pee his pants in fright. "What are you looking at?"

"PIRATE!" he screamed, throwing a giant rock at her. It hit her square in the forehead and impacted so hard, it caused her to topple off of her stump and land flat on her back.

The other three laughed as she huffed, got back up and glared at him with her free eye. She covered the big, red bump the rock had given her and asked, "What was that for, you little snot monkey?"

Herbie threw an arm around his brother's shoulder and said, "Xavier's really scared of pirates."

Marilee arched an eyebrow. "What does that have to do with-" She remembered her eye patch and sat back down. "Oh. Thanks for adding insult to injury."

"Oh, it's okay, hun," Jovie patted Xavier, who looked awfully embarrassed, on the head comfortingly. "Everybody's afraid of something."

"Except me," Marilee proudly proclaimed. Another rock hit her, this time in the gut, and made her topple back once again. Marilee laid there for a while, but from behind the stump she pointed menacingly at the sky and yelled, "I'm gonna remember that, Jovie!"

Jovie looked back down at Xavier and said, "Even though she won't admit it," She shot a glance at Marilee as she sat back down on her stump. "She's afraid of something, just like everybody else. I'm afraid of getting shots, for example. I freak out every time I go to the doctor's…"

"Really?" Keith asked and Jovie nodded in response. "I hate going to the dentist. You know how most dentists have that little hook thing to scrape your teeth with?" The group nodded and he continued, "Well, my dentist uses his _hook hand _to do it…" The skater boy shuddered, along with a few of the others. "That dude creeps me out so much!"

"Who creeps you out so much?"

He turned around to find Candace, Zack, and Selena behind him, looking at him curiously.

"Um… the dentist. What are you guys doing here?"

Zack shrugged. "We don't really feel like going to sleep, but don't know what to do. We saw you guys and just figured we could hang."

He sat down next to Keith and added, "And while I agree that the dentist stinks, nothing freaks me out more than wolves."

Jovie, an animal lover, asked, "Oh, how could you hate wolves?"

"When they attack you on a camping trip when you're five, it's not exactly that hard to believe," Zack told her.

Jovie nodded understandingly, then looked back at Marilee. "Okay, girl, you have got to be afraid of something. Just tell us. We won't laugh."

"C'mon, you know I'd tell you guys…" She looked to the side to avoid eye contact. "If I had one…"

Before Jovie could retaliate, they heard some small sniffles, and saw little Zoey walking toward them with a cut on her arm. "Whoa, what happened?" Selena asked, gently taking a look at her arm.

She sniffled and said, "I fell down and cutted myself…"

"Oh, you poor thing…" Selena pulled a bandage out of nowhere from behind her back, preparing to put it on.

Keith looked from Selena to Zack and mouthed, "How does she do that?" Zack just shrugged.

Marilee, who hadn't really paid much attention to Zoey's arrival, glanced at the small amount of blood trickling down her arm. Her face whitened and she screamed bloody murder, falling backwards a third time, without the help of a rock. She cowered behind her stump, peeking over and shaking as she stared at Zoey's wound. "Y-y-y-y-y-you're bleeeeeding!"

"Whoa, what's the dealio, Mar?" Keith asked, confused. Realization struck him, and he smirked. "Wait, that's it! You're afraid of _blood_, aren't you?"

Marilee frightfully shook her head. "N-n-n-n-n-noooooo…"

"Oh, really?" Keith cocked an eyebrow. He picked Zoey up and stuck her arm right in the blonde's face. "Then look at Zoey's cut. It's bad, isn't it?" Marilee tried to look away, but Keith kept moving it so that she could see it no matter which way her head went. "Look, it's running down her arm now. Trickling right… down… and…"

Marilee, who was desperately trying not to vomit, shoved Zoey's arm out of her face and exclaimed, "Fine! I'm afraid of blood, okay?" She sat back on the stump and looked down at her feet, ashamed. "It's just soooo disgusting! It's gooey and scabby and icky and you can never get it out of your clothes and-"

* * *

"And Marilee went on about that for a while," Zack said, slumped in a bored manner. "Herbie said he's afraid of the dark, which kind of shocked me. I figured he and Xavier would love creepy stuff like the dark and pirates. But what can you expect with those two?" He shrugged and returned to his position. "And you'll never believe what Candace is afraid of…"

* * *

Candace looked at the people staring at her, not smiling for once. She closed her eyes, whispered "Clowns," and shuddered.

"Clowns?" Selena held in a laugh and asked, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," Marilee agreed, then looked at Candace. "How could _you_, the poster child for happiness, possibly be afraid of beings as happy as clowns?"

"They're always happy!" Candace debated. "It just not natural. Nobody is _always_ happy! Do _I_ look happy to you right now?" She pointed at her face and frowned even deeper to emphasize her point.

"I guess you've got a point there…" Selena nodded. "But the one thing I'm more afraid of than anything else in the world is being in small spaces." She clutched her knees to her chest, as if to protect herself. "I got locked in a closet once when I was six and nobody could find me for, like, ten hours." She shut her eyes. "It was terrible!"

* * *

"It's true, I cannot stand tiny spaces," Selena confessed. "I can barely even stand this darn outhouse…" She got up and left the Confession Can, the camera still running. You could hear the sound of a certain somebody breathing into and out of a paper bag, as to not break out in a panic attack.

* * *

"And Selena went on and on and on about that for about fifteen minutes," Keith said, rolling his eyes. "Chicks, huh?

* * *

*T*S*R*

Trent had carried Grace out of the infirmary, as to not tire out anymore by making her walk. Grace looked near the bonfire pit, seeing that people were still there, including Zoey. "Can I go talk to Zoey?" she asked. "I'll be real quick and it'd be good practice for my crutch."

Trent shook his head. "I dunno, Grace. It's getting late and it's been a long day…" He looked down at her, seeing her big, brown eyes glisten with sadness. "And, uh… You should really…" He struggled to get his words out, as her lip started to quiver. She was the master of pouting, and he was a novice at resistance. "Oh, how can I say no to that face?" Grace smiled, glad that her cute charms worked. "Just be careful and head off to bed after you're done, okay?"

"Okay!" She nodded in agreement and he set her down on the ground.

Trent yawned. "As for me, I'm going to bed." He waved and started walking toward his cabin.

*T*S*R*

Grace wobbled toward the group, receiving strange glances, since they weren't expecting her to be that well yet. "Hey there, Tiny Tim," Keith mumbled, receiving a death glare from Grace, making him flinch away and squeal in fright like a little girl.

"Hi, Grace!" Zoey greeted when Grace sat down between her and Herbie.

"Hi! Whatcha talking about?"

"What scares us the most," Zoey said, inspecting her friend's crutch, thinking it looked cool.

"Well, after today, I'm most scared of doctors… Especially ones like Chef…" Grace looked down at her feet.

"I'm ascared of heights!" Zoey squealed, looking scared just saying it. "I climbed the monkey bars at the park once, and I was too afraid to get down and-"

"Wait a second…" Selena looked deep in thought, looking at their surroundings. "Does all this seem familiar?"

"Well, of course it does, silly!" Candace giggled, happy once again. "We've been here for almost a week and-"

"No, not the scenery!" Selena grumbled irritably. "I'm talking about this 'confessing our deepest, darkest fears' stuff. Our brothers and sisters did it last year and look what happened to them!"

"Sweetheart, you worry too much," Marilee reassured her, pulling a twig out of her hair from her third fall. "Chris is a narcissistic jerkball, but he's not a complete idiot. He's not gonna repeat the same old challenges every year. He's got a _little bit _more brains than that."

*T*S*R*

In a production tent far, far away, as in on the other side of the island, Marilee's image flickered onto a monitor, repeating the same thing. Chris McLean smirked and shook his head. "Oh, I'm smarter than you think, Marilee." He clicked the screen off. "Much smarter than you think…" He stood up and started walking out, passing the interns as he did. "Turn the rest of the monitors off for me, will ya? I gotta make some calls for tomorrow's challenge." He closed the flap off the tent, leaving the interns with only the light coming from the remaining monitors.

"Ugh, that guy really gets on my nerves," Mia said as she got up from her computer chair and flicked the nearest monitor off, making Zack and Keith disappear. "And so do these kids. They're afraid of the lamest things! Now sumo wrestlers are something to be afraid of."

"Sumo wrestlers?" Tamyra asked. "Isn't that what Heather is afraid of?"

"Well, yeah. Can you blame us, though?"

"I guess not," Tamyra sighed. "But I've always been scared of people in big animal costumes."

"Really? Why?" Holly asked, flicking off a screen with Grace's image on it.

She looked down bashfully and admitted, "When I was little, this guy in a cat costume started chasing me around and it just scared the bejeebers out of me!"

"Are you sure he wasn't just playing tag with you or something?" Marina asked while turning off a monitor displaying another one of Selena's Confession Can videos.

Tamyra calmed down. "Well… I don't really know." She turned off a monitor of Marilee being hit with a rock and falling for the fourth time, "But whatever he was doing, he scarred me for life."

"Oh, you poor thing," Holly said, supportively patting her on the back. "My fear's really silly, though…"

"What is it?" Mia asked, arching an eyebrow.

She sighed, then said, "Kissing Chris." She stuck out her tongue and mumbled "Bleh!" while the other girls laughed. After they stopped, they looked at Marina, like they were waiting for something.

"…What?" she asked, flicking off a screen with Zoey on it.

"Well, aren't you going to tell us yours?" Holly asked.

"Oh, no," she held up her hands and shook her head. "I'm not going to let Chris use my fear to freak me out like he did to the contestants last year!"

"Please, we're the interns," Mia said, strutting toward the exit. "Chris isn't going to waste his energy scaring us. He saves that for the contestants." Marina followed, since all of the monitors had been turned off.

Holly and Tamyra exchanged a glance, shrugged and followed the two other interns.

Meanwhile, Chris McLean was leaning against a tree in an unknown location, looking at his watch. His _video_ watch, that is. A small smirk crossed his lips as he pressed a tiny button and turned the watch off, making the images of the four girls on the small screen disappear. He sighed and shook his head. "I swear, nobody ever gives me enough credit." He winked at the camera and walked away.

*T*S*R*

Candace, exhausted from last night's challenge, had decided to sleep in the next morning instead of waking up moderately early like she usually did. When she woke up, she realized that she was the only one left in her cabin. Stretching, she hopped out of bed and slipped on her white camisole with the pink heart, jean Capri's, and white sneakers. The cheerleader also fixed her hair and make up, feeling extraordinarily perky that morning.

She sprung out the door, a small skip in her step. After getting on the grass, she did a small twirl, her long strawberry blonde ponytail rippling in the breeze. "Oh, I can just tell today's going to be great!"

Candace skipped all the way to the mess hall, jumping onto the last empty seat at the Killer Bears table. Gwen, who was sitting right next to her, commented, "Wow, you're in a good mood today… And with you, that's really saying something."

Candace let out a happy sigh, using her spoon to poke the bowl of disgusting oatmeal that Chef had slammed down in front of her. "I just have this strange feeling that today's going to be a pretty good day. Do you ever get that feeling?"

"Yeah," Gwen nodded. "But then, after the day is over, I realize the feeling was wrong …"

Candace giggled. "You're so funny with your pessimism and moodiness, Gwen!"

Before Gwen could say anything back, Chris walked into the mess hall, an even bigger smile on his face than usual. "Oh, boy… I do not like that face," she muttered, rubbing her temples.

"Good morning, everybody," Chris greeted, still smiling. "First of all, I would just like to congratulate you all for making it through your first week without any, um…" Chris looked at Marilee's eye patch and Grace's crutch before continuing, " …lawsuit-worthy injuries. Which is why no one will be voted off today!"

Everybody let out their individual cheers, exchanging high-fives and fist bumps with each other.

"But, you still have to face today's horrific challenge if you want the totally wicked reward!" He rubbed his hands together diabolically, remembering everything he had planned for his victims. "First off, Selena."

Selena swallowed her oatmeal mush and looked at Chris.

"There's a teeny, tiny box near the beach just waiting for you to squeeze into," Chris explained, smirking.

Selena's eyes widened, but she didn't make a sound or even move. After half a minute of silent motionlessness, Owen waved a hand in front of her face. Nothing.

"Wait, what's going on?" DJ whispered to LeShawna and Geoff, who he was sitting in between of, as Chris continued to point out members of the Killer Bears and tell them what they'd be doing for their challenge.

"I dunno," she whispered back.

Geoff shrugged shrugging. "Either the challenge is cramming as many people as we can into a box, though that'd be really hard to fill a half hour time slot, or-"

The three teens were silent, almost afraid to even say what they were all thinking. "He wouldn't…" DJ whimpered.

"He would," LeShawna hissed.

"But how did he…" Before Geoff could finish, LeShawna was glaring at Jovie and Marilee, who were sitting across from them.

The girls noticed. "What?" Jovie asked.

"Don't tell me you guys all told that creep your deepest, darkest fears!" LeShawna hissed.

"We didn't!" Marilee hissed back. Her angered expression flashed to a more embarrassed one and she mumbled, "We told each other and Chris was eavesdropping…"

"Marilee, quit chit-chatting while I'm talking!" Chris whined. "You're giving me a bloody headache!" His frown turned upside down. "But I'm going to give you a bloody something by the end of the day…"

* * *

"That was definitely a threat to my physical health!" Marilee raged, yanking a cell phone out of the pocket of her black layered skirt. "I am _so_ suing!" She punched in some numbers and held it up to her ear, looking back at the camera. "He's a good lawyer, too. Courtney suggested him, and she's not exactly new to the whole lawsuit game!"

* * *

"Jovie and Grace," Chris read from the flashcard he kept in his pocket to remember who was afraid of what. "You two have an appointment with Dr. Hatchet, DPRP."

"Um…" Jovie bit her lip, almost afraid to ask her question. "What does DPRP stand for?"

" …Doctor of Phobia Related Pain!" Chef, dressed in a doctor's coat and stethoscope, kicked the door open and stormed over to the activist, grabbing her by her wrist. "I've got an extra special…" He chuckled a not a very friendly chuckle. "… extra painful shot just for you, tree hugger."

Grace giggled after seeing the mortified look on Jovie's face, until Chef grabbed her by her wrist, too, and brought her up to eye height. "I wouldn't laugh if I were you, maggot. At least her shot's in the arm…"

She squealed in fright, putting her free hand over her butt where her previous shot had been taken.

Dr. Hatchet dragged them out the door, kicking and begging for somebody to help them get away from the psycho doctor chef.

"Okay, it's time to get Selena the Statue out to her box," Chris told them, motioning toward the door. Almost all of the kids started walking out the door, excluding Selena, Candace, Duncan and Gwen. Duncan was almost out the door, but he noticed that his sister was still non-responsive to pretty much everything. He grabbed her by her arm and tried pulling her off the chair, but she seemed a lot heavier than usual, like she was made out of stone. He finally yanked her off of the stump and made her fall to the floor, still in the same position she was when she was seated. Since she still hadn't moved, he grabbing her arm again and started dragging her toward the exit. It sounded like he was dragging marble against the floor.

Candace and Gwen were about to get up, but before they could, Chris, in a sing-song voice, called out, "Oh, Caaaaandaaaaace…"

Candace looked at him, looking horrified as soon as she did.

When she wasn't looking, Chris had put on a rainbow afro and a big red nose. He pulled a small horn out and pressed the button twice, saying, "Honk, honk!" as the horn actually did honk. He yanked off the nose and tossed it to her

She caught it in both hands, dropping it immediately after she did. "It buuuurns!" she screamed, wiping her hands off on her shirt.

"Still think today's going to be a great day?" Gwen asked, looking pretty angry about what she knew was soon to come.

Candace just looked down at her feet. She had never been wrong about that hunch before…

But there's a first time for everything, right?

* * *

Oh geez! :C Poor, dumb campers!

Please review! I love hearing what you guys think! :D


	18. Day 5, Part 2: Box Five!

Wow, quick update, huh? Well, this ones kinda short, but that's because the rest really has to be in the next chapter.

Todd's the guy from Scrubs who always gives people weird high-fives, btw. Like "Cyber five!" and "Internal Uh-Oh Five!" and high-fives like that. Just in case you don't get the joke later on.

And I'm changing Herbie and Xavier's ages to five. I just see them more as five year olds than seven or eight year olds or whatever age I made them.

Read, review and enjoy!

* * *

"NOOOOOOOO!" Selena shrieked, pushing her feet against the sides near the door around as Owen and Duncan tried to force her into the small Plexiglas box. "NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Ugh, this would been easier if she was still just slightly spooked and statuesque!" Owen whined, wiping his sweaty forehead with his free hand.

"Selena, quit being a baby and just get in the stupid box!" Duncan ordered.

Selena pounded her fists on top of the box, crying and whining like a toddler who had just been placed in a time-out.

"I said get in the box!" he yelled again.

"Okay guys, you've been trying to get her into that thing for ten minutes now," Chris told them, impatiently look at his wristwatch. "If she doesn't get in there in the next two minutes, it's an instant disqualification for her."

"If you don't get in the box, we might not win. Get your butt in there!" Duncan ordered

Owen, panting, stopped pushing on Selena and dug around in his pocket. He pulled out a long, cinnamon dough stick. "Churro break!"

Selena, stopping her temper tantrum, looked at the yummy treat. "Churro?"

"Owen, that's it!" Duncan exclaimed, then leaned in closer and whispered, "Churros are her favorite food. Willing to take one for the team?"

"But…" Owen's eyes glistened sadly. "I haven't eaten in almost fifteen minutes!"

Duncan, rolling his eyes, ignored his sad face, grabbed the churro and tossed it in the box.

Selena, being foolish, dove into the box to get the pastry. Duncan slammed the door shut before she could escape. The poor girl started crying again and hugged her churro for comfort.

"Okay, she's got ten minutes in there." Chris explained. "If she yells and tells you to let her out, than you do. One of your teammates will have to stay behind."

"Zack will do it," Duncan said, shoving the gamer toward the box.

"Seriously?" Zack asked, shocked.

"Yeah," Duncan nodded. "After watching her wig out in there for a while, you'll realize how ugly she looks when she cries and never want to get near her again."

"Hey!" Selena stopped crying and screamed, dropping the churro. "This box isn't sound proof, you know!"

"Yeah… I do know." Duncan said nonchalantly.

"Okay, time for the next victim's phobia!" Chris and the group walked off, leaving Selena, Courtney and Zack behind. Zack wasn't really paying attention to either girls. He was too busy trying to make sure Duncan hadn't set up some sort of trap for him.

Courtney, not really showing any emotion in particular, walked up to Selena's box and inspected her fearful look. Then, very uncharacteristically, she mashed her face up against the glass, making the most obscene mocking face she could at her. After removing her face from the surface, she walked away, laughing her head off and leaving Selena as steamed as a vegetable.

* * *

"I know, that was a very childish, unCIT-like thing to do," Courtney admitted, arms crossed. "But after what she said to me the other day, she's lucky I didn't moon her!"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Jovie and Grace nervously sat on one of the cots in the infirmary tent as Chef prepared his medical tools. "This is so unfair!" Grace pouted. "I just got out of this yucky tent, now I have to be back in here! This stinks!"

"What are you whining about?" Jovie asked. "You're still sick, at least. It's even worse getting a shot when it's useless and you feel just fine!"

"Whaddya mean? I'm all better now."

"I meant you're still mentally sick, you little devil baby!"

"Well… shut up!"

Chef walked back over to the girls, holding out a giant syringe needle to Jovie. "There it is. The biggest, sharpest needle we could afford. No way some flower picking, tree hugging pansy girl like you could deal with the kind of pain this bad boy can give!"

"Hey, I resent that!" Jovie crossed her arms and glared at him. "I never pick flowers! What did the poor flowers ever do to me?"

"So… think you're man enough?" Chef smirked, waving the implement in her face.

Hr brows furrowed. "No… But I'm _me_ enough to do it." She stuck her arm out. "Hit me with your best shot."

* * *

"Okay," Jovie grinned, embarrassed. "That 'hit me with your best _shot_' thing wasn't supposed to be a pun. It was merely a poor choice of words…" She sighed. "And it sounded cooler in my head."

* * *

Chef looked kind of surprised by her choice, but shrugged and looked down at Grace. "Before I start with her, maybe we should get your… check-up over with. Let's start with your puny reflexes..." He set the needle down and grabbed a huge wooden mallet, getting ready to hit Grace's knee with it.

"Uh…" Grace's eyes widened. "That sounds fun." She shoved it away and mumbled, "But before you do that, I… uh… gotta go potty." She jumped down from the cot and bolted out of the tent like she thought Chef was going to chase her with the giant hammer.

Chef and Jovie exchanged a glance. "Think she's coming back?" Chef asked.

She shook her head. "Not a chance."

*T*S*R*

Zack sat down next to the box Selena was in and took a look at her face. Her eyes were closed, trying not to remember where she was. Her face was a bit blotchy from crying and her nose was tomato red, but Duncan had been wrong. She didn't look ugly at all. At least not to Zack, she didn't. Her pink and blonde hair was tucked behind her ears, so he could get a better at her features. She had the tiniest nose Zack had ever seen on anyone their age, but he couldn't help but like it on her. It looked right with her petite frame. And her eyes… He loved those pure, serene blue orbs of hers that shined every time she smiled. Why was she keeping them closed?

Zack sighed. She wasn't going to look at him, or anybody for that matter, anytime soon, so he looked out at the lake, which actually looked kind of nice when the right amount of sunlight hit it.

Selena opened her eyes. She knew that he was looking at her, but didn't really want to look back, thinking it would have been awkward. She took a glance at Zack. He had some nice facial features. He didn't really have much in the brawn department, but he was still a handsome young man, with his charismatic smile and his shaggy brown hair that barely touched the tops of his eyes. Oh, those eyes. Those beautiful hazel eyes… She could stare at them for hours, as long as she received a bathroom break during those long hours of eye-staring. Eyes are the first thing Selena notices about people, and when she first looked into Zack's eyes, she knew he was somebody special.

Zack looked back at Selena, who still looked sad even after thinking about his cuteness. Selena thought about looking away, but decided not to, thinking that would be even more awkward.

The gamer gave he a warm smile, and she gave him and smaller, but just as warm, smile back. At least she tried to.

"Y'know, you're pretty brave," Zack commented.

Selena cocked an eyebrow. "Duncan tricked me into coming in here." She sighed. "Yeah, I'm reeeeal brave…"

"No, no, really," Zack encouraged. "Even though you weren't willing, you still stuck it out. You haven't once asked to come out. Now that's bravery." He grinned and placed a hand on the side of the box. "Box high-five!"

Selena grinned, rolled her eyes and slapped her hand on the area inside her box where Zack's was pressed up. "Thanks, Todd."

Both grinned at each other for a while, until they looked down and noticed something.

Neither of them had removed their hands from the side of the box.

They looked up, then back down, then up again. They exchanged a small smile and instinctively placed their other hands on the wall next to their occupied hands. Even though they weren't technically touching, they felt comforted. Especially Selena, since she couldn't even remember where she was. All she saw was those beautiful hazel eyes looking back. And Zack felt the same way, looking into her cool, blue eyes.

Chris overlooked the scene from afar. "Aww, how sweet," he mockingly cooed. "Too bad it won't last long…" He yanked on a leash, which had a fluffy, adorable wolf pup on the end. "Okay, Rental, time to do your stuff!" He let the little wolf go, making sure she headed in Zack's direction.

"Rental?" Marina asked, angry. "Chris McLean, how could you name that adorable wolf pup 'Rental'?"

"Because that's what she is. A rental." Chris said in a monotone. "If I'm not going to keep the thing, what's the point in giving it a better name?" He stood back up. "Besides, we could only afford one animal suit, and we're saving that one for Tamyra."

"Oh. Well, okay then." Marina shrugged, then started walking off. Before she was completely gone, she stopped, yelled, "WHAT?" and ran back over. " What do you mean, 'For Tamyra'? She's an intern. Why are you going to scare her?"

Chris smirked. "For giggles. You lucked out not telling me what you're afraid of."

"Wait, you mean you're going to scare the others, too?"

Chris nodded. "So be a doll and don't warn them. Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise." With that, he walked off, leaving Marina to gape at him jerkiness.

* * *

"Are all guys like him?" Marina asked, holding the plastic ball with her pet hamster in it. She shook her head. "No thank you, I'll stick to hamsters." She grinned at the fuzzy little animal and cooed, "Isn't that right, Freddy?"

* * *

*T*S*R*

"It's okay, Gwen. I'm here for you, babe!" Trent said into the walkie talkie, trying to calm her down. Since she, along with a few other campers from last year, had faced their fears, Chris had decided to make their challenges much harder. Gwen, for example, was buried ten feet under instead of just a mere two or three. And instead of being buried under one shovelful of dirt at a time, Chris had rented a bulldozer and forced Mia to fill the hole up in one dump. Not that Mia was complaining, since she wasn't very keen on Goths.

"Trent, Trent… Trent!" Gwen repeated into the device, too scared to say anything else.

"It's going to be just fine," he reassured her. "I'm not going to let some mime chase me away this time. _This time_, I'm all yours."

Gwen couldn't help but smile, though fear was still clear on her face. She was still in a box buried ten feet underground, after all.

"You have my undivided attention and-" Before he could finish his sentence, he saw a tiny person running away from something, then tripped on his stretched-out legs and landed in his lap. "Grace?" Trent asked, dropping the walkie talkie. "What happened?"

Grace looked around. She hadn't even known where she was running. Guess that was her destination. "I… I think I lost," she sighed, looking down disappointedly.

"Who are you talking to?" Gwen asked, hearing the sound of somebody instead of her boyfriend talking. "Is that Grace out there? Trent? … TRENT!"

*T*S*R*

"Okay, Keith," Chris began, pacing back in forth in front of the skater, who was nervously seated in a dentistry chair that had somehow appeared in the mess hall. "Normally, we'd have Chef play the role of the dentist, but he's still preoccupied with Jovie. And besides, your description from last night calls for a… different kind of dentist." He stepped aside and motioned toward the door to the kitchen. "I'm proud to introduce…. The Escaped Psycho Killer with the Chainsaw and a Hook!" After said psycho killer, dressed up like a dentist, burst through the door and Keith let out a girlish shriek, Chris added, "The Escaped Psycho Killer with the Chainsaw and a Hook, DDS, that is."

"I told you to stop calling me that!" the killer whined, sounding very unthreatening. "My name is Carl! And I didn't even bring the chainsaw with me this time!"

"Fiiiine," Chris said, rolling his eyes. "Dr. _Carl_, DDS. Are you satisfied?"

"Very," Carl told him, grinning. He then jammed his hook hand into Keith's mouth and started poking around and scraping teeth willy nilly, making him gurgle and grumble in fear and pain.

*T*S*R*

Zack and Selena were still 'holding hands', when Selena told him, "Y'know, I think having some company has been the only thing keeping me from going totally insane inside this box."

"Really?" She nodded. "Well, in that case, I'm not going anywhere." They both grinned at one another, both with small blushes. Zack kept smiling at her until he felt something warm and wet on his hand, like drool. He looked down, seeing Rental, the slobbering source of the warm liquid, staring at him with her big, adorable eyes. He screamed, fell over backwards, then ran away as fast as possible, Rental perkily running after him.

"Zack?" Selena yelled in a panic. "Come back here! I need you! Zaaaaaaack!" She pounded on the sides of the box and started crying again. "Somebody lemme outta here!"

*T*S*R*

Chris, who had left Carl alone to deal with Keith, was at the amphitheater, along with Heather. The campers who weren't preoccupied with their tasks yet were sitting in the stands to watch. Heather wrung her hands nervously, knowing what was to come. "Heather, I seem to remember you winning last year, so let's make things more interesting this year." Chris smirked and continued, "This time, you have to actually _wrestle _your sumo, and last ten seconds without giving up."

He went behind the curtains, seeing Mia sitting on a tall stool and filing her nails, oblivious to what was happening. She noticed he was looking at her. "What do you want?"

"Mia," he smiled. "Could you open that box and take it's contents on stage?" He pointed to a humongous box behind her and handed her a crowbar. She rolled her eyes, mumbled, "Whatever," and dropped her nail file to open the huge crate. After a few seconds, she managed to pry the lid off of the side. When she saw what was inside, she screamed and fainted.

Chris laughed, politely bowing to the sumo wrestler in the box. "Well done, Yoshi-san!" He laughed. "The look on her face before she fainted was SO worth the extra grand I had to pay to ship you here!" He waved a hand toward the stage. "Well, Heather ain't gonna wrestle herself! C'mon," he said as he and Yoshi walked onstage, seeing Heather nowhere in sight. "Where'd she go?" Chris asked the contestants in the stands.

"She chickened out!" Geoff yelled back.

Chris, looking frustrated, told the sumo, "Get back in the box, Yoshi."

Yoshi sadly sighed and walked back toward the box.

* * *

"Aw, man," Yoshi moaned, with his thick Japanese accent. "I really wanted to squash her!"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Holly, who was dragging a spider suit out of a storage closet, saw Chris was behind her. "Um… Hi, Chris. Umm…" She nervously looked down from Chris' creepy smiling face to the arachnid costume and added, "I'm getting the suit out like you said…" She looked back up at him. "But, uh, is there something else you want?"

"Yes…" Chris got closer to her and waggled his eyebrows at her. "Kiss me, you fool!" He flung himself in her direction and tried to wrap his arms around her, but he missed, since Holly had already run away screaming her head off, spider costume still in tow.

Chris fell on the ground laughing.

*T*S*R*

Chris tossed Cody the schematics for Cody's ticking garbage bomb and ran off without a word.

"Wait, you didn't even tell me what to do this time!" Cody yelled, not even getting a glance from the sprinting host. He took big, fearful breaths, trying to remain calm, and took a look at the schematics. "Okay, so all I have to do is snip the red wire, connect the green and yellow wires, completely remove the blue wire…" He squinted at the text, making sure he read the last parts right. "… chew on the purple wire twenty seven times, tie the orange wire up to look like a pair of bunny ears… knit the hot pink wire a tiny sweater…"

Cody dropped the schematics and dashed off to found a place to hide. Those schematics must have been bogus, anyways.

*T*S*R*

Xavier looked fearfully at the man dressed like a pirate, probably his job at kid's parties, standing a mere few yards away. Zoey, his closest friend besides his brother on the island, was standing next to him. Even though she knew Duncan, who was taking a bathroom break, wouldn't approve of her helping the other team, she really wanted to help her friend out. He was zany and unpredictable, but the most fun boy she knew. She had to help him face his fear.

"C'mon, Xavie, he looks like a nice pirate… Like Cap'n Crunch!"

"But… but… He has a big, scary beard!" Xavier yelled, cowering behind her.

"So does my great auntie Gertrude," Zoey commented. "You only gotta get near him a _little_ bit…"

"I… I don't wanna!" he cried.

"Xavie, you can do it!" she encouraged him. She gave him a hug for luck, and after she released him, the hug had given him enough bravery to go up to the party pirate and it even gave him the courage to give the buccaneer a solid five second hug.

His team, and Zoey, cheered for him and vis victory. The little girl ran over to him, giving him an even longer hug.

Duncan returned from his bathroom break and walked over to Courtney, not really paying attention to the cheering. "What'd I miss?"

"Oh, Duncan, you missed the cutest thing." She sighed happily and said, "Zoey helped Xavier get over his fear of pirates and-" Courtney saw that Duncan wasn't there anymore. She noticed him dragging a crying Zoey away from Xavier, yelling at her for being a traitor.

Courtney sighed, though not nearly as happily as before.

* * *

"Leave it to Duncan to ruin a beautiful moment," Courtney groaned, arms crossed. "But I couldn't help but feel like that whole scene with Xavier and Zoey kind of felt déjà vu. It seemed really familiar…" She stroked her chin a few times in thought and shrugged. "Nope, nothing. It'll come to me later…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

"-and I have hopes and dreams, too, you know?" Carl asked, expecting an answer from Keith, even though his hook was still in the poor teen's mouth. "Keith still nodded in agreement. "But Mom always said, 'No, Carl, you cannot be a rock star! That isn't a real career and blah, blah, blah' and it just got annoying after a while. I guess that's why I became a dentist and part time psycho killer with a chainsaw and a hook." He took his hook hand out of Keith's mouth, handed him a small paper cup full of water and said, "Gargle and spit, please."

Keith did what the killer dentist said and nodded. "I know what you mean, man. My mom's always saying I should stop thinking I'll be a pro skater when I grow up and start paying more attention in school."

Carl nodded sadly. "I feel your pain, brother."

"You know," Keith began, handing the cup back to Carl. "You're much better than my dentist. You only cut my gums half as many times as he does."

"You're not half bad yourself, kid," Carl said, grinning. "Here's my card." He handed Keith a business card with details about his dentistry business.

"Thanks, I'll definitely tell my folks how awesome you are," he told him, tucking the card in his shorts' pocket.

"Great! I guess I'd better get finished…" Carl put his hook hand in Keith's mouth again and commented, "Next time I'm on a killing rampage around Wawanakwa, I'll be sure to spare you. And maybe that Marilee girl, if you ever get her to go out with you."

Keith nervously laughed, sounding gargled since Carl's hook was in his mouth. "Gweat…"

* * *

Le gasp! Will Grace be Trent's Gwen distraction this year instead of the mime? Will the second group of victims do better on their challenges than the first? W-

"Will anybody ever let me out of this box?"

Selena, shut up! You're not allowed to talk during the author's notes!

*ahem*

Anyways, please review! Love your comments, guys! :3

Oh, and there's a new pll on my profile. Please vote! :D


	19. Day 5, Part 3: CIT: Chicken In Training

Wow, from the results so far for the poll, I just gotta say something. You all sure have a lot of faith in Duncan's family! :3 For those of you who haven't voted, be sure to check it out! Vote for someone who isn't Duncan! Or Duncan! I don't care, just vote!

Well, this is another longie, which I've missed. This was so fun to write :D

But I didn't get into detail with Herbie's. Why? Drew a blank. XP

Read, review, and enjoy! :D

* * *

"And we're back!" Chris exclaimed, grinning at the camera. "Herbie lasted pretty well when we locked him in that pitch black closet. But enough about that. Let's see how Zack's doing so far…"

*T*S*R*

Zack, still being chased by Rental, was screaming his head off and running as fast as his legs could take him.

Chris, who Zack passed pretty quickly, yelled, "All you have to do is pet the thing, kid!"

He either hadn't heard him or decided to ignore him, because he still ran off, shrieking like a little girl.

Chris shook his head. "Tsk, tsk. Kids these days. No backbone."

*T*S*R*

Jovie walked out of the infirmary tent, a small bandage on her upper arm where the shot had been given.

Chef followed. "I have to admit, tree hugger, you're tougher than you look."

"LeShawna's my big sister, ain't she?" Jovie asked, smirking.

"Well, I gotta see a guy about a plane," Chef explained, digging around in the pocket of his doctor's coat. "Almost forgot, here." He pulled out a giant red lollipop, about the size of his fist, and handed to her before he walked off.

Jovie happily stuck the lolly in her mouth and walked off to share her victory with the rest of her team.

*T*S*R*

Selena, still trapped in the locked box, rocked back and forth in the fetal position, crying her eyes out. Nobody had come by since Zack ran off, and she was so scared without his company, she would have chewed off her own hand to get out of that box.

Her time was almost up, but she could not stand one more minute in that crazy box.

"Uh… uh… uh!" She pounded on the side of the box, trying to break it with her mighty power. But unfortunately, she had no mighty power, so the Plexiglas remained unharmed, not even looking scuffed.

"Gah! Curse my tiny, frail, religiously moisturizing-lotioned hands!" Selena yelled at her curled up fists. "When I get out of here, I'm gonna give Zack such a kick in the-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Holly, dressed in the same spider suit she had dragged out a while ago, was running away from LeShawna, who was chasing her with a rolled up newspaper in her hand.

* * *

"What?" LeShawna asked, arms crossed. "Can't a sister face her fear?"

* * *

Holly had almost escaped, until she bumped into Tamyra. "Oh, I'm sor-" she started, before seeing how Holly was dressed. "Eep!" she squealed, taking slow steps away from her. After several steps, she ran away from her fellow intern, screaming in fear. Holly was too busy running away from LeShawna again to apologize.

Chris, from afar, rubbed his hand together diabolically. "Aha… I love how things worked out like that."

* * *

"Okay, just to clear things up," Selena started, "When I was saying that I was 'gonna kick Zack in the-' stuff and I was interrupted, you probably thought I was going to say something pretty vulgar, didn't you?" She laughed at the thought. "Rest assured, I wasn't going to say anything along those lines. Kids watch this show, for goodness sake!" She grinned at the camera, then slumped and sadly sighed. "Okay, fine. I was going say what you thought I was going to say."

She stared at the camera, like she thought it was giving her a dirty look. "What? I was mad, still am! But when I _do_ get my hands on Zack, and I don't care how vulgar it is, I'll totally kick him in the-"

* * *

*T*S*R*

"-And… And he was gonna hit me with the big hammer and… and…" Grace started crying, burying her face into Trent's shirt as she sat on his lap.

"Grace, calm down," Trent soothingly said, patting her back in hopes of getting her to calm down. "Chef's not going to hurt you."

The brunette, making sure Trent couldn't see, pulled away from him, grinned evilly at the camera, and winked. Then she went back to fake sobbing into his shirt.

"Trent, can you hear me?" Gwen asked into the walkie talkie. She slammed a fist on the side of the box she was buried in and yelled, "Trent, whatever Grace is crying about out there, I'm sure it can wait! If you're not going to talk to me, then you'd better dig me up, because I can't take one more second in here!"

Trent, aboveground, picked the walkie talkie up, which had practically been buried in the sand, too, and asked, "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

Gwen sighed and grunted, "Just. Forget it."

The gravestone timer went off, saying that Gwen's time was up. "Wait, you did it, Gwen!"

"I did? Great, now get me out of here!"

"I'll go tell Chris to get the bulldozer," Trent told her. He stood up, sliding Grace gently off of his lap. "Grace, stay here and keep an eye on Gwen."

Grace looked down at the dirt Gwen was currently buried under, then back up at her brother. "Where is she gonna go?"

Trent ignored the question and ran off to find the handsome host and the bulldozer.

Grace looked around to make sure the coast was clear. Smirking, she picked up the walkie talkie and said, "Hello, Gwenny. Enjoying your dirt nap?"

Gwen growled, "Grace, I don't know what you're up to, but-"

"Oh, don't worry," Grace reassured her. "Distracting my dear big brother to freak you out was the only thing I was up to today. But fret not, for I have a few more tricks up my sleeve for future challenges." She dropped the walkie talkie in the sand and walked off.

* * *

"Okay, seriously, how did Grace get so smart?" Gwen asked. "I mean, three year olds aren't supposed to speak so… well!" Crossing her arms and arching an eyebrow, she asked, "What three year old do you know that uses the word 'fret' in daily conversation?"

* * *

*T*S*R*

The members of the Rabid Wolves waited patiently outside the mess hall, waiting for Keith to come out, with hopes that he won.

Keith, mouth shut, walked outside and approached the group. He stared at them a while, before flashing them a grin with his shiny, freshly cleaned teeth.

His teammates cheered as Carl the dentist/psycho killer walked out, proudly smiling at his work.

Upon seeing him, Izzy let out a battle cry, picked up the nearest twig and jumped onto his back. "DIE DIE DIE!" she screamed as she bonked him on the head with the tiny twig repeatedly. "LEAVE ME AND MY FRIENDS ALONE, YOU UGLY CHAINSAW GUY!"

"Ah!" Carl screamed, trying to shield his head from the flimsy, harmless stick. "Make her stop! I have easily breakable bones!"

"Izzy, stop!" Keith yelled, trying to pry her off of Carl. "He's not going to hurt anyone! He's cool," he explained.

The crazy girl stopped, looked at Carl's frightened face and mumbled, "Oh." She got off, but instantly started acting like her zany self again. "Does this mean you gave up being a killer? And you decided to be a dentist instead? Booo-ring!"

Izzy stuck her face in his and babbled, "Why'd you chose to be a lame old dentist? You got that cool hook! With that hook, you could be anything other than a dentist! Like a pirate!" She made a hook with her left pointer finger, shut one eye and growled, "ARGH!" She got rid of her hook and gasped, "Oh, that reminds me of this one time when I went to this pirate themed amusement park and-"

The pirate that had just been scaring Xavier a while ago walked past them and Izzy chased after him. "Wait up, Mister Pirate! Let me show you my hook!"

Carl, eyes widened in fear and confusion, blinked, then said, "Um… yeah…." He pointed in the direction opposite of the one Izzy had gone. "So I'm just gonna go now." With that, he walked off.

"Uh, yeah, later," Keith said, still looking at Izzy as she chased the poor phony buccaneer.

*T*S*R*

"Guys, guys!" Marina yelled, running toward the other interns, who had taken a break in their lounge. "Guys, Chris told me not to tell you, but I just know I have to." She sat down next to Tamyra, who looked shaken up. "I just need to tell you that Chris is planning to-" She paused, and pointed toward the couch. "What happened to Mia?"

Mia, who was still unconscious, was draped on the couch. "She fainted after seeing the sumo," Holly explained, stuffing the spider costume into a nearby closet.

Tamyra breathed a sigh of relief when the frightening costume was shut behind the door. "Chris scared all of us silly. Guess he didn't get you, since you never told us what you're afraid of."

"Chris. Almost. Kissed me," Holly whispered, plopping down on the couch by Mia's feet.

"Oh…" Marina sighed. "I guess I'm too late."

"Wait…" Tamyra stood up. "You knew about this?"

"Yeah, but I came to warn you guys!"

"Well…" Tamyra sighed, sitting back down. "Thanks, but it's too late now."

Marina sighed, guilty that she wasn't fast enough. But suddenly, she got an idea. "Wait, I've got an idea!" She waved Holly and Tamyra toward her, then whispered a plan to them. As she quietly explained, the other two grinned diabolically.

*T*S*R*

Duncan approached Chris, who had a Celine Dion cardboard standee tucked under his arm.

"Look," Duncan started, looking pretty exhausted, "I tired myself out shoving Selena into that box and yelling at Zoey for stabbing the team in the back, so can we just get this over with? It's not like I can top last year's scene, anyway. Do you see Courtney anywhere?"

After seeing that Courtney was indeed not with him and realizing that Duncan and Courtney's fan girls wouldn't get a cute hand holding scene, the host shrugged. "Your call, man," Chris said, placing the standee in front of the punk. "Give her a hug, and try to look a little bit afraid, for the audience's sake, okay?"

He nodded in agreement. "Ahhh," Duncan mock screamed, waving his hands weakly. "She's so scary and lifelike," he monotoned, rolling his eyes. Stiffly wrapping his arms around her, he silently counted five seconds, then let her go and walked away.

* * *

"Don't get me wrong, those things still freak me out," Duncan explained, feet propped up on the toilet paper roll holder. "But when I'm tired enough, I would pretty much do anything just to get it over with. And trust me, my sisters are exhausting."

* * *

*T*S*R*

Walking on the amphitheater stage, DJ crept toward the snake he was required to let crawl on his arm. Unlike last year's innocent garter snake, DJ had to face a bigger, much scarier constrictor.

"D-Do I have to?" DJ asked, cringing at the sight of the horrifying snake in the cage.

"Don't worry, DJ," Jovie yelled from the stands. "He's not venomous, so he can't kill you or anything!"

"But… But this thing is hee- uge!" DJ squealed, pointing at the constrictor. "And he sure looks like he could squeeze me to death!"

"C'mon, all the thing is going to do to you is give you a little squeeze," Marilee encouraged.

"_Little_?" DJ whined. "Nothing this creature does is _little_!"

Finally, he sighed and decided to suck it up. After all, his team needed a win, even if it was just for a reward. He slowly opened the cage and stuck his hand out and looked away, waiting to feel the slimy thing slither up his arm. Grinning, he held his arm out for his teammates to see that he had faced his fear once again.

After the applause stopped, he tried to get the snake off of his arm, but it was practically clinging to him. "Help!" he yelled, shaking his arm in attempts to get the constrictor off of his arm.

*T*S*R*

Cody, cowering behind a large pine tree, was apprehensively waiting for the untouched bomb to explode. After about five minutes, nothing happened, so he snuck a peek at the garbage bomb. It wasn't making the same beeping sounds it had made before, but it hadn't exploded, either.

The techno geek emerged from behind the tree and approached the bomb. "Whaddya know…" He poked one of the cans and flinched, but nothing happened. "Must be a dud." He picked up the schematics he dropped earlier and looked them over. Grinning, he mumbled, "What Chris doesn't know won't hurt him…"

*T*S*R*

"Next up is Geoff!" Chris whispered to the camera, waving a remote in his hands. A few sparks flew from the remote and it made some suspicious beeping noises, which made Chris' brows furrow. "Dang it, this thing's on the fritz again!" He started shaking it wildly, which just made the screen pop out with a comical 'boing!' Sighing, Chris looked back up at the camera and said, "Just go see what Geoff is up to while I try to fix this thing."

The camera panned to Geoff, who was sitting on the edge of the Dock of Shame and talking to somebody off-screen. "C'mon, Geoff, don't be scared," the off-screen voice calmly coaxed.

"No way can I do that, Candy," Geoff looked around anxiously as he told the voice, who was apparently Candace. "I was all chillaxed about it last season. I mean, I didn't even see it coming! At least you saw _this _coming to you," he said, gesturing to her body.

The camera panned away from Geoff's face so it could get a good shot of both him and Candace, who was currently in the middle of her challenge. She was wearing a colorful clown jumpsuit, along with a rainbow afro wig, big red nose, and giant floppy shoes. Candace, trying her best to smile just as big as she always did, let out a stiff laugh. "Actually… I didn't. I just thought I'd have to hug a clown or something." After another stiff laugh, she added, "But this is… good, too."

Geoff eyed her, then asked, "Candace, why are you so happy all the time? Don't take offence from this or anything, but how can you have such a great attitude when you're living in this hellhole of an island?"

Candace, glad to get her mind off the clown subject, genuinely smiled and replied, "Well, the way I see it, there's not much point in being sad for long periods of time, because you never know when something could happen that could…" She drifted off, almost afraid to say it. "You know… life's just short and you've got to live it to the fullest."

Geoff nodded in understanding. "That last thing you said sounded kinda familiar…"

Candace rolled her eyes and elbowed him playfully. "That's because _you_ said it to me during the Sibling Swap challenge, silly!"

"Oh… yeah…"

"I also seem to remember you having a better attitude before Bridgette…" She paused, opting not to say what she was about to say.

Geoff noticed the pause, gave her a little smile, and said, "It's cool, you can say it."

"… Before Bridgette broke your heart and ripped it out of your chest and crushed it into a bazillion pieces with her surfboard of turmoil and-"

"'Dumped me' would have been just fine!" Geoff whined, looking heartbroken.

"Oh." Candace the clown looked down at her big shoed feet. "Sorry."

"Nah, it's all good," Geoff said, slinging an arm around her colorful shoulder. "I guess I have been kinda mopey ever since the break up. I really need to get my head back in the game!" With his free hand, he pumped a fist in the air and yelled, "WHOO!"

Candace giggled. "Aww, there's the Geoff I know!" Bashfully looking to the side, she added, "And if my opinion mean anything to you, she missed out on a great guy."

Geoff looked at her, shocked, but grinned. "I'd say the same thing for you… You know, if your boyfriend had dumped you on an elixir high like my ex-girlfriend did to me… Speaking of which, do you have a boyfriend?" Before he could slap himself on the forehead for asking such an embarrassing question, a cloud slowly hovered over his head and before he knew it, it started pelting him with large pieces of hail.

A voice, one that belonged to Chris, yelled, "_Fixed it_!" somewhere far off screen.

Screaming in pain, he bolted up and sprinted off, though wherever he went, the cloud followed. This left Candace all alone.

The poor clown girl frowned at first, but it immediately turned into a small grin and she yelled, "No, I'm single!"

*T*S*R*

As Trent was running through the woods in search of Chris, he saw a shadowy figure leaning against a tree. He couldn't tell who the person was, since his back was turned to him, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to ask him for some help.

"Uh, excuse me?" Trent said, approaching the unknown fellow. "You wouldn't happen to know where Chris McLean is, do you?" He held a hand up to about Chris' height and added, "About ye tall, black hair, stubbly face, probably scaring the crap out of someone right now?"

The man turned around, revealing his pasty face to the poor musician. The person was a mime. Trent screamed bloody murder and ran off, the mime hot on his trail, pretending like he was behind a wall while he was chasing him.

They raced right past Chris, who watched them in delight. "He must have been looking for me so I could dig Gwen up." Digging the keys to the dozer out of his shirt pocket, he said, "Wouldn't want a repeat from last year, now would we?" He winked and walked toward the beach to dig up the poor Goth.

*T*S*R*

Gwen, who had just been dug up by Chris and his bulldozer, was walking along the beach in search of Trent, who she hadn't seen in a while. She found no boyfriend, but she did find a frantic Selena curled up in the fetal position, looking like she hadn't slept in months.

"Selena?" Gwen asked, kneeling down next to the box. "Where's Zack? He was supposed to let you out…" She looked down at her watch and gasped, "Three hours ago!"

"The idiot ran off… because of some stupid wolf… puppy… thing!" Selena shakily explained, still in the fetal position. "I want out of here NOW!"

Gwen, acting quickly, unclasped the door and opened it so she could get out in the fresh air once again.

She hadn't even seen Selena get out, she did it so fast. All the Goth saw was her back as she ran the heck away from that accursed box.

"Well," Chris said, walking toward Gwen as she stood up and watched the younger girl run away. "She didn't _want_ to stay in there, but she _did_, so I guess she wins."

"Um… Great." Gwen looked around, still seeing no Trent. "I'm going to look for Trent."

"He's probably in Timbuktu by now," Chris told her, smiling.

Gwen cocked an eyebrow, not looking impressed. "Mime?"

Chris nodded. "Mime."

The Goth girl sighed. "I guess I'd better find him. He's probably in the lake. Again." With that, she stalked off in search of her boyfriend once again.

*T*S*R*

Geoff continued to run, until he somehow ended up heading toward the mess hall. Izzy was there for some reason, holding a lot of weird items, including a couple of pillows, some rope, and a big cooking pot.

"Fear not, Geoffy, my boy!" Izzy yelled as he ran closer toward where she was seated Indian-style in front of the mess hall. "Izzy will save you and our team's chances of winning!"

She got up and charged toward him, letting out a wild cry, which clashed with his girlish shriek. Just as they were about to make contact, she stumbled and threw her items at him. Instead of them making him collapse to the ground, the things formed a rather silly looking suit of armor. By some sort of miracle, the ropes had tied the pillows around his arms, legs, and torso and the pot had been placed on his head. The cloud continued to pour on him, but he felt nothing.

"Whoa, I can't feel a thing! Thanks, Izzy!"

Chris yelled, "_Aww, man! Fixed this stupid thing for nothing_!" far off screen again.

After Chris was done whining, Geoff frowned, looking at her. "How'd you know throwing all this stuff at me would work?"

"I didn't," Izzy admitted. "I was just going to tough out the hail and put all the stuff on you one at a time. But then I tripped."

Geoff blinked as the hail continued to thrash on his pot helmet. "Oh."

Izzy shrugged. "Yeah."

After another silence, she added, "Reality shows sure are crazy, huh?"

*T*S*R*

"Ah… Marilee." Chris evilly smirked at her, and she actually looked scared. "I spent a big hunk of time last night spitballing ideas for your phobia. After a while, I finally came up with something suitable."

He walked her over to a small stool, placed out in the middle of the big field for some unknown reason. Forcing her into the seat, he continued, "Basically, all I'm going to do is give you a little cut right about here." He pointed to her left knee. "You have to look at the blood _ooooooze _out for thirty straight seconds," Chris said, her flinching at the mention of oozing.

"Um… Are you sure one of your other plans wouldn't be better?" Marilee asked.

"Well… there was one I though would be fun to do…" He grinned and tapped his chin. "Your other option is to wade in a kiddie pool full of blood. You see, we found this dead bear near the forest and-"

Before he could describe anything else, a very pale Marilee stuck her leg out, stared into space blankly in fright and muttered, "Cut it, cut it, cut it."

Keith looked at her distressed face, and felt a strange feeling somewhere in the pit of his stomach.

"Did you see the look on her face?" Keith sighed. "I missed the miffed pout she usually has. Man, I had to do something. I couldn't stand seeing her like that…"

Without any warning, Keith walked away from the group of bystanders and kneeled next to Marilee's seat. "Chris, it's cool if I'm here for support, right?" Most of the girls watching awwed at his cute gesture.

"Uh…" Chris shrugged. "Sure, I guess." He pulled out the tiny razor blade he was going to use to make the cut and polished it off on his shirt.

"It's gonna be okay, Mar," he told her, smiling supportively. He held out a hand to her. "It helps if you have something to squeeze," Keith said, with a slight joking tone.

Marilee stared at his hand, like she was afraid it was some sort of trick and he was going to stuff it down her shirt, instead. But he didn't even inch it anywhere toward the chest region, so she gently took his hand in hers, taking note at how much bigger and stronger his was than hers.

Chris leaned down, swiping the blade across her knee with a quick motion. She winced and whimpered as soon as a little bit of the crimson liquid surfaced.

Marilee's gentle hold on Keith's hand turned into a death grip as the blood trickled further and further down her leg. With every inch, the grip on his hand got tighter and tighter, and Keith's pained smile became more and more pained-looking.

* * *

"Wow, Marilee must have some grip!" Izzy commented. "Did you see Keith's fingers? They were practically purple! They looked like little mauve sausages!" Mouth salivating, Izzy moaned, "Ooooh, those actually sound good. I bet Owen would love those! I should make some for him sometime!" She tapped her chin in thought. "Now if only I could find Chris' invisibility powder so I could sneak into Chef's kitchen and cook them..."

Izzy looked back at the camera. "What? You know Chris has some! All rich people do! They use it to avoid the paparazzi and flying monkeys and stuff. I've been trying to find it the whole time I've been here. Why else do you think I've hardly had any screen time?"

* * *

As it was about halfway down her leg, a timer buzzed and Chris yelled, "The thirty seconds are up! And Marilee racks up another point for the Rabid Wolves!"

As the team cheered and Marilee wiped her leg off with a small towel Chris handed to her, Keith cheered, "Way to go, Mar! I knew you could do it!" He looked down at his hand and muttered, "Uh… you can let go of my hand now." Looking down, she gasped and yanked her hand away from his.

Sucking in some air through his teeth, he rubbed his sore hand. "I… I think it's broken…"

* * *

"Okay, that probably looked bad back there," Marilee mused. "But me and him? Puh-leeze!" She put her hands on her hips and said, "I was scared and needed to hold someone's hand. I would have held Godzilla's hand if it were there!" Holding a finger up, she said, "Actually, I would have preferred Godzilla to Keith. At least Godzilla doesn't have sweaty palms!"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Trent, who had been running from the mime, looked behind him. The mime was gone. "Huh?" He screeched to a halt and scratched his head in confusion. "Did I win?"

About twenty yards away, the poor mime was leaning against an imaginary light post, silently panting. He yanked an imaginary handkerchief from his pocket, dabbed his sweaty forehead with it and tucked it back. After he quietly panted some more, the mime's brows furrowed and he yanked a pretend hat off his head, threw it on the ground and stomped it into the dust. After another twist of the heel to the poor invisible hat, he stormed off.

Back by Trent, Chris approached the musician and clapped him on the back. "Congratulations, Trent! You're the first camper in Total Drama history to tire out their phobia to the point of quitting!"

"So… I won, right?" He asked, grinning.

Chris' smile disappeared. "No." His smile returned. "Hee hee, see what I did there? I made it sound positive so you'd think you won and be all happy and stuff, and then I yanked your joy right out from under you!"

He laughed some more, while Trent just glared at him. "You stay up all night thinking this stuff up, don't you?"

Chris frowned again. "I have brutal insomnia, dude."

*T*S*R*

Zack continued to run from Rental, who was bounding right after him, looking about as cute as possible. Zack, however, did not find Rental cute at all. The gamer continued to run until he reached the edge of the thousand foot tall cliff, which he hadn't even realized he was running up.

Looking down at the drop he had to take, then back at adorable Rental, the gamer sighed and leaned back farther and farther until he eventually slipped and fell backwards off the cliff.

* * *

"What can I say?" Zack shrugged. "I really hate wolves."

* * *

Rental poked her head over the edge, watching Zack flail and scream as he plummeted closer and closer to the lake. When he finally hit the surface, the wolf pup sadly pouted, upset that she had lost her 'playmate.' With a whimper, she walked away, passing Owen, Izzy and Chef, in his flight attendant's outfit, as she did.

"Huh," Owen mumbled. "Guess Zack lost."

"Wait a minute," Chef said, looking as Rental stalked off. "If Zack ain't with Selena, then who is?" The three exchanged glances, but the former soldier shrugged. "Meh, not my problem."

He pulled the keys out of his jacket pocket and turned to the couple. "You ready, Tubby and Crazy?"

"Hey!" Owen yelled, hugging Izzy protectively. "Don't call my girlfriend tubby!"

Chef rolled his eyes and shoved the teens into the passenger seats of the dilapidated plane that somehow appeared in front of them. Izzy patted Owen's arm comfortingly and said, "No worries, Big O! We kicked butt at this last year. Shouldn't be any harder this time around!"

"Oh, it's gonna be a little different than last time," Chef said as he started the plane, a mischievous grin on his lips. Untying the blue scarf from his neck, he tied it over his eyes to make a blind.

Izzy and Owen gasped in terror as Chef grabbed the steering wheel and took off. Owen shoved the redhead out of his way so he could reach the window. He slammed his fists on the glass and yelled, "Lemme outta this crazy thing! I'M GONNA DIE!"

*T*S*R*

Candace, free of the clown costume, ran around aimlessly, squealing in victory. Geoff, heading in her direction and still wearing his makeshift armor, ran past her.

"Geoff, guess what?" she yelled, still running. Before he could answer, she yelled, "I faced my phobia!"

"And I didn't die!" Geoff screamed happily, hands held up high.

When they crossed paths, they both slapped each other a high five, yelled, "Awesome!" and ran in opposite directions, still yelling and screaming in excitement.

*T*S*R*

Izzy and Owen clung to each other for dear life as Chef barely missed a tall tree. "Izzy, if I don't make it out of this death trap alive…" Owen started.

"Yeah?"

"Tell my mom… the gravy she sent me in the mail yesterday was delicious." With that, he dramatically fainted and landed in her lap, practically squishing her.

*T*S*R*

Cody, almost done deactivating the bomb, grinned. "Hey, this isn't that hard… I'm almost done!"

Meanwhile, by the cabins, Zoey and Grace were playing tag. "Tag, you're it!" Grace yelled, tapping Zoey on the back.

"Aww, man!" Zoey pouted, kicked a clump of dirt. Before she could start chasing her friend, a loud boom shook the entire island. "What was that?" Zoey cried, hiding behind Grace's back.

Grace grinned. "Cody's bomb must have 'sploded…"

Back with Cody, the bomb had indeed exploded. Trash was everywhere; on the trees, in the bushes, covering innocent bunnies. But Cody was the one covered with the most garbage, looking even worse than he did last year.

Cody sighed, walking back toward camp. "Guess it wasn't a dud after all…"

*T*S*R*

The rest of the bystanders, excluding the ones still facing their fears, or merely still recovering from them, were surrounding the jelly pool that had been built last year, but sadly never used. Courtney glared at the jiggly, green goop inside, losing all feeling in her legs. Marina stirred the jelly, making sure it was still wiggly and squiggly. Selena, still running, bumped into Duncan and fell to the ground.

The punk turned around and saw who bumped into him. "Let me guess. You lost?"

"No," Selena said, getting up again. "Actually, I won." Through her teeth, she mumbled, "_I won for three hours_…" Regaining a calm composure, she asked, "So who's up next?"

Jerking a thumb to his nervous girlfriend, he said, "Princess."

Selena grinned. "Oh, this'll be fun…"

"I can hear you, you know!" Courtney yelled, spinning around to glare at her.

"Yeah, I know," Selena told her, a smirk on her face.

"Okay, Courtney," Chris began, approaching the former CIT, "Ready to take the plunge?"

Looking down at her feet, she quietly nodded and walked over to the ladder to the diving board. "But if I die, I am _so_ suing!" She started the climb up, slowly but steadily.

"C'mon, babe, you know you can do this!" Duncan yelled as she was nearly at the top.

"Go, Courtney!" Zoey cheered.

Courtney slowly stepped onto the diving board and walked toward the edge. Peering at the dive she had to take, she listed the possible ways she could die on the way down. After thinking for a few seconds, she yelled down, "I… I can't do it! I just can't!"

While walking back toward the ladder, she heard somebody yell up, "Heck yeah, you can't, you big coward!"

Storming back over to the edge, Courtney glared down at the campers. "Who said that?"

Selena raised her hand. "I did! I calls 'em as I sees 'em, and what I sees is a giant scaredy baby named Courtney!"

As Courtney fumed, Duncan elbowed her and hissed, "What are you doing, moron? She's on our team!"

Shoving his elbow away, Selena whispered back, "Just give me a sec, Dunk. I know what I'm doing…" Looking back up at a furious Courtney, she yelled, "I guess you really are a CIT… a Chicken-in-Training!" She tucked her hands under her arms and flapped them like wings and clucked like a chicken, making Courtney even angrier.

"Oooh, how dare you!" Courtney screamed, cheeks flushed in fury. "I'll show you, you little twerp!" Jumping up and down a few times on the end of the board, then plunged off, landing in the gooey, snotty substance she hated so much.

After a few seconds of anxious waiting from her teammates, Courtney surfaced, pumping her fists in the air victoriously.

As the rest of their team congratulated her, Duncan, unibrow cocked in impression, said, "Ooooh, I get it, You knew she couldn't resist a challenge… So you used that reverse psychology junk on her." He patted her on the shoulder and grinned. "Impressive."

"Uh…" Selena grinned. "Sure. That's it…"

* * *

"Seeing her covered in giggly, icky goop was a bonus, too," Selena added, smirking.

* * *

*T*S*R*

As soon as Chef landed the plane on the shore of the lake, Owen and Izzy jumped out, still hugging each other tightly.

"Oh, Izzy! I thought we were going to die!" Owen cried, tearing up.

Izzy looked just as emotional. "Me too!"

"Iz, there's something I want to tell you." He let her go and gently grabbed her hand. "After seeing my life flash before my eyes, I realized there's been so many things left unsaid between us. I just want to say…" He got down on one knee, still holding her hand, and yelled, "I love your mom's Boston cream pie!"

Tear streamed down her cheeks and she whispered, "Oh, Owen… I love my mom's Boston cream pie, too!" She grabbed his face and gave him a deep, loving kiss.

Chef, removing the blindfold and stepping out of the plane, rolled his eyes and dragged the making-out couple away.

*T*S*R*

"Okay, this is it!" Chris cheered, leading Zoey and the group to a giant set of monkey bars, about the height of a two story house. "This is for the win! If Zoey can climb up to the top of these obscenely tall monkey bars without peeing herself, the Killers Bears win!"

"Wait a minute," Jovie said, counting on her fingers. "We have nine wins and they only have six. They'd still have two less than us, if she does go through with it."

"Ah, but I have a little proposition for young Zoey here," Chris said as Zoey climbed the steel ladder to Chris's eye height. "If she wins, I'll _quadruple_ her points!"

Everybody gasped in shock. Even Izzy and Owen, who had still been making out, separated to let a gasp out.

* * *

"Wow," Gwen muttered. "That's a lot of pressure to put on a kid."

* * *

"Are you kidding me?" Marilee scoffed, rolling her eyes. "The kid almost barfed yesterday when Selena gave her a piggy back ride! This thing's in the bag…"

* * *

Zoey gulped, but continued her climb up to the ladder.

The monkey bars happened to be next to a small cliff. A garbage-covered Cody happened to be walking aimlessly toward the edge. "Hello?" he called out. "A little help here? Anyone?" Once he reached the edge of the cliff, he fell face first onto the top of the monkey bars, then stood up, his legs almost slipping through the spaces in between each rung. "Man, the grass here has a lot of gopher holes…" Taking a few steps farther on the rungs, he muttered, "A lot of evenly spaced gopher holes…"

Back down on the ground, Zoey's team was cheering her on. "You can do it, Zoey!" Courtney cheered.

"Yeah, we've got faith in ya, kid," Duncan yelled in agreement. Looking back down at Courtney, he muttered, "She doesn't stand a chance."

Courtney nodded. "Hope she takes failure well."

Zoey had almost made it to the top of the monkey bars, but she saw something on top. Missing one of the rungs, Cody fell down, his face meeting Zoey's. "Eeeee! Monkey bar monster!" she screamed, falling backwards, plummeting down and landing on Owen, who worked as a great cushion.

Chris held up a hand to the other team and proclaimed, "The Rabid Wolves win!"

* * *

"Finally!" Marilee cheered, looking ecstatic.

* * *

"Yes!" Izzy cried. "I'm _this _much closer to find that invisibility powder!"

* * *

Chris proudly stepped aside and announced, "You all can head to the mess hall for your prize; the biggest, sickest, most awesome party our reward budget could afford!"

The Rabid Wolves let out wild screams of joy and charged toward the mess hall.

"Well, they all did face their fears, so I guess they deserve the party," Courtney sighed. "And I did finally face my fear of green jelly…" Her face looked angered and she added, "But don't think I won't contact my lawyers about Selena's taunting!"

Zack, who had been spending the time drying off from his dive in the lake, walked up to his team. "I just saw the Wolves running toward the camp ground. Did we lose?"

"Yeah," Gwen mumbled. "Thanks to Cody the Trash Boy up there."

Cody's garbage-covered head popped up. "Is Gwen talking about me?" Before anyone could answer, he fell through another one of the gaps and crashed to the ground. Stiffly getting up and rubbing his aching back, he pointed to the back of the group and said, "I'll just be over there, de-gunking myself…" With that, he limped off, yanking a banana peel off of his face.

Selena walked over to Zack, who shrieked upon seeing her. Wincing, but trying to smile and pretend like noting happened, he said, "Uh… hi, Selena. Looks like you got out of the box, huh?" He nervously laughed. Though Selena was still giving him that same stare. He stopped laughing.

Selena was quiet and practically motionless for a few seconds. Then before anyone knew it, Selena swiftly kicked Zack in the crotch, making him yelp out in pain and fall to the ground, arms between his legs in protection.

The males witnessing this crime to dudekind flinched and moaned in understanding pain. Except for Duncan, who was actually giving Selena a thumbs up for her daring assault. Not even just because it was Zack she did it to, but because she had the gall to do it at all.

Selena then proceeded to call Zack a long string of such horrible, censor-worthy words, that even Gwen's jaw dropped. Luckily Zoey and Grace had wandered off and weren't there to hear the vile things she said to him as he cowered in fear of her fury, hoping she wouldn't kick him again.

After she was done yelling her head off, she straightened herself up, cleared her throat and calmly said, "Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I forgive you." She walked away, passing a few shocked campers as she did.

Before she was gone, she stopped by a group of guys who had been farthest away from the scene, consisting of Trent, Cody and Owen. She struck a menacing pose like she was going to attack them, too, but never did. However, the three guys still cowered like weaklings at her newfound scariness.

Selena, harsh pose melting, laughed giddily and lightly patted Owen on his big, quivering arm. "Ha ha, I'm just messing with you guys." With that, she walked off, looking much happier than before

* * *

Duncan sighed, looking touched. "I've never been more proud to call that girl my sister."

* * *

*T*S*R*

Chris whistled a happy little song as he strolled up to the mess hall. Another day, another challenge, as he always said…

Before he could reach the steps, he was stopped by Mia, who regained consciousness and been let in on Marina's devious plan. "Hello, Christopher."

"Uh…" Chris blinked and backed away. "Hi, Mia…pher. What do you want?"

"Oh, nothing, really," Mia muttered. "Me and the girls were just thinking about how you scared most of us today."

"Yeah," Tamyra said as she approached the duo. "We also agreed that it was seriously not cool."

"Ah… that." Chris flashed her a toothy grin. "That was just for ratings, and all the jazz. No hard feelings, right? "

"Oh, there are hard feelings, all right," Holly said, taking a place next to Tamyra. "And we thought it'd be fun to give you a little scare."

Chris rolled his beady eyes. "Too bad you guys don't know what I'm afraid of."

"Yeah… We _didn't_," Mia said. "That's why we hacked into the virtual journal you have on your computer."

Chris' eye widened. "No way! How'd you find out the password?"

"'Password' is not a very good password, Chris," Holly replied.

"N-no… You didn't!" Chris backed away from the girls, before bumping into a hefty, ugly Hispanic woman behind him. He turned around, looking into her bloodshot eyes.

"Chris, you remember Inez Garcia?" Marina asked, stepping out from behind the angry lady. "Your least favorite ex mother-in-law?"

"Chris McLean!" Inez yelled, slapping him with her purse. "How could you divorce my Carla?"

"Ow!" Chris whined, rubbing his cheek where the purse hit him. "I've told you a million times! She got an ugly haircut and it was too gross to look at!" Regretting what he said immediately, he ran away, shrieking girlishly as Inez chased him, thrashing her purse in his direction.

The interns laughed as they watched him run, exchanged high fives and kept giggling as they walked into the mess hall to join the party.

* * *

Woo hoo! Go interns! :D

Next episode is when we check in on the booked-out campers. Awesomeness! :3 Please review, love your comments!


	20. Day 6: Playa de Losers y Lovers

Here it is! The first Playa de Losers chappie! This was so fun to write! :D

EDIT: Sorry, had to reupload due to difficulties. Nothing's actually changed! :P

Song to listen to: http:// www . you tube .com /watch?v=2GKWl1SN01s

I've been so busy, so I still haven't responded to some reviews from last chapter. Probably won't get around to the upcoming ones for a while. With school, my parent's anniversary and whatnot, it's been hectic and I've barely had time to do anything! I've also been working on a secret project... _ _

Read, review, enjoy! :3

* * *

It was Saturday. For once, things were calm on Total Drama Island. There were no cameras rolling, and the remaining campers had the day off to do whatever they pleased without a threat of violating their contracts. Unfortunately, the weekend did not entitle them to a decent breakfast, so they'd have to settle for Chef's cooking.

The campers decided to sit wherever they liked that morning, so Jovie, Candace, Marilee and Selena were sitting at the Killer Bears usual table. A few unimportant others who aren't significant to the current plot and hadn't finished their meal yet were at the Rabid Wolves table.

"How was the party last night?" Selena asked the Wolf girls as she nibbled on her burnt toast.

"Ooooh, that party was kickin'!" Jovie exclaimed. "You should have seen me on the dance floor!"

"I gotta admit, you're an awesome dancer!" Marilee complimented, high-fiving her. "You had the best moves out of anyone there, even me."

"Wow." Selena dropped her toast. "If Marilee's admitting that you're better than her at anything, you must be really, really good!"

"Har dee har har," Marilee muttered sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest. "I _do_ know how to be nice to people, you know."

"Speaking of being nice to people," Jovie started, cocking an eyebrow, "I seem to remember you being nice enough last night to dance with Keith…"

Candace's spoon clattered as she dropped it into her bowl and she grabbed Marilee's hand. "OMG, that's so totally cute!"

Marilee uncharacteristically blushed and bit her lip to hide her smile. "Oh, that? I… I just wanted to do something to thank him for helping me during the challenge. Not a big deal…"

Before they could add anything to that, Geoff passed by the girls with an empty tray. "Hey, ladies," he greeted. Looking down at Candace, he tipped his hat to her and smiled. "Hey, Candy." He kept walking, set his tray by Chef's serving window, and walked out, right behind Duncan and Owen.

Marilee recognized the goofy, love struck look that had been on her older brother's face when he greeted her and nudged Candace, who had gone back to eating her meal. "Hey, you'd better watch out, Spunky. Looks like my big bro's got the hots for you."

Practically choking on her slop, she spat it out and shrieked, "WHA?"

The few contestants at the other table shot a quick glance at her, wondering what her deal was, but when she calmed down, they went back to their conversation.

"Are… Are you sure?" she asked, wiping her mouth free of spit up.

"Yeah, I'd recognize that look anywhere." The blonde fashionista shook her head. "Had the same look when he first started seeing Bridgette."

Candace's almost permanent smile got even bigger and she giggled the world's silliest-sounding giggle, a small blush on her cheeks.

"Oh, my gosh!" Jovie clung onto Candace's arm. "Girl, you're totally crushing on Geoff!"

"Geoff?" Candace laughed nervously. "W-What? No way! I… We're just…" She sighed in defeat. "Okay, maybe a little…"

Selena giggled happily, hopping up and down in her seat a few times. "That's so great! You two would make such a cute couple!"

"You really think so?" The girls, even Marilee, nodded.

"What do you like about him?" Selena asked, leaning closer to her.

"Well…" She twirled a strand of her strawberry blonde ponytail and smiled. "He's nice, fun, cute, sweet… Not to mention he's got a killer butt!"

"Eww!" Marilee gagged, sticking her tongue out. "That's my brother you're talking about!"

"Sorry," Candace laughed, looking down at her lap to hide her embarrassed blush. "I bet I'd be grossed out, too, if Izzy was here right now, talking about Owen like that. Or if Bridgette were still here and you talked about Keith like that around her…"

"Keith?" Marilee scoffed, almost looking offended. "Wha… _what_?"

"Girlfriend, we all know you like him," Jovie told her teammate, a smug smile on her face.

"And by everybody, she means _everybody_," Selena pointed out, taking a sip of orange juice. "Like, even Chef knows."

"That's because Chef's a dork with no life!" Marilee yelled, standing up. She was too blinded by her fury to even notice the butcher's knife that went flying behind her head, skillfully tossed by Chef. That made the other campers at the Wolves table bolt out of the building completely. "I do not like Keith like that. I can barely stand him!"

"I heard 'barely'," Candace sang.

"But I don't… I… He's.. I'm not…" Eventually, she stopped trying to come up with a way to express her feelings for him because it was getting her nowhere. She grabbed her tray and stood up. "I'm going to go take a shower."

"You just took a shower an hour ago," Selena pointed out. "Why are you taking another one?"

"Because shut up," she mumbled as she got rid of her tray and ran out of the mess hall.

After she left, Selena turned back to the two other girls and arched an eyebrow. "Ten days?"

"I give her six," Candace betted.

Jovie rolled her eyes and smirked. "Please, she'll be suckin' face with that boy by this time tomorrow!"

*T*S*R*

"Attention, maggots!" Chef harshly yelled into the intercom, attracting the mingling campers' full attentions. "Get your scrawny butts down to the mess hall right now!"

The campers, however, were too confused to go anywhere. "But it's not even lunch time yet!" Cody protested, even though he knew it wasn't a two-way intercom.

"**I said NOW**!" Chef's command boomed across the island, causing the campers to clasp their hands over their ears and rush toward the mess hall.

All the teens rushed into the building, and just as the younger kids were about to, Chef blocked the entrance. "No can do, mini maggots," Chef told them. "Chris gave me specific orders not to let you little buggers inside for this."

"What?" Zoey pouted. "Why not?"

"Dunno," Chef mumbled, shrugging. "Something about making out and your parents whining about it and blah blah blah. Just can't let you in." With that, he slammed the door, leaving Herbie, Xavier, Zoey and Grace out all by themselves on the front porch.

"Aww, man!" Xavier crossed his tiny arms over his chest in a huff. "I wanna know what they're doing in there!"

"Me too!" Herbie groaned. "I bet it's really cool!"

"Chef's a big meanie!" Zoey cried, on the brink of tears. "I hate him!"

Grace tapped her chin, then snapped her fingers. "I know what we can do to get back at that buttface!"

"Poop in his shoes?" Herbie suggested.

"No…" The brunette thought it over a second. "Actually, that's a pretty good idea. Remember it for later." She rubbed her hands together diabolically and smirked. "But I had something little different in mind…"

*T*S*R*

The cameras were back on, so that they could tape the campers' reactions to what they were about to see. After the teens got comfortable, Chef pulled a projector and a screen from the kitchen and set it at the front of the mess hall. "As you weaklings know," Chef started, pacing back and forth in front of the screen with his arms crossed behind his back, "Saturday is they day Chris goes to Playa de Losers to check up on your even more pathetic siblings. But today, he wants you all to see the live stream so you can watch all this gobbildy goop before the rest of the world can. And why am I here?" Chef Hatchet stomped a foot and screamed, "BECAUSE CHRIS IS A BIG, FAT JERK AND WOULDN'T LET ME COME WITH HIM!"

Calming down, he quietly cleared his throat. "But you all seem to get the idea…"

"Why does Chris want us to watch this in the first place?" Gwen asked, hands propped under her chin to keep herself from banging her head on the table in frustration. "Isn't looking at the others having a great time kind of like a big middle finger to those of us working out butts off here?" Gwen thought over what she said, then slumped even more and mumbled, "Oh, I get it now…"

Chef nodded. "You catch on quick, Gruesome." He flicked the lights off and turned on the projector . "Anyway, enjoy…"

Chris's eyes took up the entire screen as he got too close to the camera for comfort. He combed his eyebrow hairs with his fingers and backed up a little, smiling at the camera. "This thing works great as a mirror…" He ran a hand through his hair, pointed to the lens, and winked. "Lookin' good, buddy! But you know what's even better? Your super sexy singing voice!" He backed up even farther so that the entire top half of his body could be seen, and a lonely section of Playa de Losers could be seen in the background. The host started doing the twist and sang, "I am a super star, with a big, big house and a big, big car! I am a super star and I don't care who you are!"

The viewing campers, and even Chef, laughed at his awful dancing and off-key singing.

As Chris continued to groove and sing his Danish pop song, the young man operating the camera whispered, "Dude, you do realize we started streaming back to Wawanakwa like five minutes ago, right?"

Chris stopped singing and paused in mid dance. His beady eyes shot back to the camera and he sheepishly grinned. Though his tightly clenched teeth, he hissed, "You couldn't have told me that before I put on a freaking show for them?"

"I, uh… Figured you knew."

"You're the worst cameraman ever!" Chris whined, crossing his arms over his chest. "Why did I hire you?"

"Because I'm your nephew," the poor cameraman explained.

Chris' anger melted a little bit. "Oh… Right." He grinned. "Don't tell your mom I said that, okay, Jude? She would kill me."

"Whatever you say, Uncle Chris. Um… I think you're supposed to start now."

Chris looked back at the camera again, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Oh, yeah… I knew that. Uh…" He put on a happier face and cried, "Helloooooo, TV audience! You may recognize the resort behind me as Playa de Losers." He stepped farther away so his nephew could get a better shot of the scenery. "Well, you'd be correct!"

He walked over by the pool, where Bridgette, in her wetsuit, was relaxing on an inflatable blue raft and Jackson, in his white swim trunks, was sitting on the edge, reading a book.

"As you can see, our voted out campers aren't really that heartbroken about being voted off."

*T*S*R*

"A little higher, guys!"

"I can't go any higher!"

The little kids had finally come up with a decent plan to see what the big kids were up to. Grace was sitting on Zoey's shoulders, who was sitting on Herbie's shoulders, who was sitting on Xavier's shoulders. They were just tall enough for Grace to sneak a peek through the window. The only problem was that they were all having trouble keeping their balance.

Grace smashed her face up against the window and cupped her hands to block out the outside light. "I think they're watching a movie or something…"

"Which movie?" Zoey asked, sounding like Grace's weight was putting her in a lot of pain. "The Little Mermaid?"

"No, if it was something like that, they'd let us watch it," Grace mused, squinting to get a better look see. "It could be a TV show. Maybe they're watching Family Guy or some other cool-looking show that Trent won't let me watch."

"Does the movie have boobies in it?" Herbie asked, making sure he had a good grip on Zoey's legs.

"I dunno…" Grace looked between her legs at him. "What do boobies look like?"

Grace's sudden shift in weight caused the entire child totem to careen back and forth. The kids tried to stay balanced, but eventually fell over and landed in a big, mixed up pile.

Heather and Candace, who were closest to the window, could hear their moans of pain. "What the heck are those kids doing out there?" Heather asked.

Candace shrugged. "Sounds like they're playing leap frog or something."

Heather shrugged, too and they turned back to the screen.

The camera panned to Rikki, who was sitting at the tiki bar, dressed in a black one piece. "Hey, viewing world," she greeted, waving. Cody shrieked, falling backwards in his seat.

"Cody, calm down!" Marilee said, casually twirling a strand of hair. "Your sister isn't _that_ ugly." Taking another look at the screen, she shielded her eyes and added, "Oops, I stand corrected…"

"No, that's not it," Cody said, getting back into his seat. "I-I-it's just that…" He pointed to the screen and yelled, "S-s-s-s-she's smiling!"

The others looked at the screen, to see that she was, in fact, smiling. "Why is she smiling? She's hasn't smiled in years!" Cody scratched his head, wide-eyed.

"Shut your pie hole and maybe you'll find out!" Chef yelled, turning back toward the screen to find that Rikki was starting to say something.

"If Cody ever watches this, I bet he'll be pretty surprised to see me so… not depressed." She laughed. "I guess I owe you an explanation, little brother... and other people wondering what happened to me." She brushed a long strand of red and black hair behind her ear and began, "Well, it's really all thanks to Jackson." Courtney arched an eyebrow at the mention of her brother. "He helped me with some… issues I had. I swear, he's like a miracle worker!"

Speaking of Jackson, he waded through the pool, two tropical drinks in his hand and gave one to her. "Aww, thank you, Jackson."

He sat down and flashed her a grin. "Anything for you, sweetheart."

"Sweetheart?" Cody and Courtney repeated, exchanging glances.

Before they could ask more questions, the two ex-campers on screen leaned in and exchanged a deep, long kiss.

Every single jaw in the room dropped.

After separating, Jackson looked at the camera, like he just noticed it. "Oh… You're doing that today?" He laughed a little and added, "Whew… Sorry you had to see that, folks."

"It's okay, Jackie," Rikki coaxed, patting him on the arm. "Everybody had to find out sooner or later. And at least they know we're dating now."

"He's dating _her_?" Courtney screamed, standing up. "How could _my_ brother date that hideously depressing freak?"

"Uh, she's still my sister, you know," Cody pointed out, standing up for her.

"Do I look like I care?" she screamed, pointing at her face. By the look on her face, she obviously didn't. Groaning, she whipped a cell phone out of her pocket and stormed away. "I'm going to talk some sense into that dolt!" She slammed the door behind her.

"So, are you two liking it here at Playa De Losers?" Chris asked Rikki and Jackson.

"Yes, it's amazing," Jackson said, holding Rikki's hand. "Just yesterday, I-" He was interrupted by a ringing sound, which sounded like a cell phone. "Oh, excuse me…" He pulled a cell phone out of the pocket of his trunks and answered, "Jackson Mann here… Oh, hey, Court. Aren't you supposed to be-" Courtney started screaming into the cell phone, questioning his sanity and asking what on Earth he was thinking when he started dating her. He yanked it away from his ear and cringed. Looking back at the camera, he meekly grinned and pointed a finger at the phone. "Um… I have to take this…" He jumped out of the pool and walked off screen, trying to get his sister to stop yelling at him.

"Um…" Chris exchanged glances with Rikki and then looked back at the camera. "Okay then."

"Maybe you should see what everybody else is up to," Rikki suggested.

"Sure, why not?" Chris shrugged, walking toward the hot tub, where Raven and Duke were wildly making out, both with a frothy can of beer in their hands. "So, I'm guessing you two are happy here?"

"Heck yeah!" Raven yelled, pulling herself away from Duke. "With my man and a bar with all the booze we can drink, why would we even _want_ to be on that crappy little island?"

The couple went back to making out, Chris looking slightly freaked out by their gross display of affection. "Uh… Super." He walked back to the tiki bar, where Bridgette had seated herself next to Rikki with a cool green smoothie. "Oh, there you are, Bridgette! Care to tell anything to our viewing audience?"

"Oh." Bridgette was caught off guard as she awkwardly waved at the camera. "Well, first off, I'd just like to apologize to you, Geoff. That is, if you ever see this. I never wanted things to end the way they did."

"It's okay, Bridge," he mumbled, even though he knew very well that she had no possible way of hearing him.

"I really hope you see this so you know how sorry I am. Also, I hope you see this, too, Keith… So you can know that…" She slammed her drink down on the counter and screamed, "That I'm super mad at you!"

Keith flinched, but still looked very confused at his sister's outburst, since she wasn't one to get so angry, even at him.

"I told you not to say anything to Geoff about getting everybody to vote me off, and what do you do? Tell him!" She clenched her fists and muttered, "You can never keep a secret…"

* * *

"Hey, I resent that!" Keith protested, arms crossed in a huff. "I'm great at keeping secrets! Nobody knows about my cousin's Beanie Baby collection that he's been hiding for years. He's captain of his school's football team. If anybody found out about that, he'd be a laughing stock!" He mused over what he just said and slapped a hand over his mouth. "Oh, snap! Sorry, Toby!"

* * *

"Haha," Chris laughed. After he watched Keith's Confession Can video, he wanted to say one thing. "What a Lindsay moment!"

* * *

Taking a deep, cleansing breath, Bridgette added, "But I guess he would have found out sooner or later… Still, it's not that bad here." She smiled at Rikki. "Rikki and Jackson have been so nice to me." She took a glance around, seeing a lack of Rikki's boyfriend. "Where is Jackson, anyway?"

"He ran off somewhere so Courtney could yell at him," Chris explained, smiling away. "Speaking of Jackson, let's check up on him and see if Courtney's deafened him with her nagging…"

* * *

"Courtney, stop screaming. Courtney…" Jackson calmly said to get his little sister to stop yelling at him. "Court- Courtney…Courtney…" Brows furrowed, he lost his cool and yelled, "COURTNEY, SHUT UP!" into the phone. Surprisingly, she did.

"Okay, let me explain…" He sighed and sat down in one of the Adirondack chairs near the buffet table. "Look, it's sort of complicated… When I was practicing my therapeutic skills, Rikki and I got to know each other better. She's a great girl, sis."

"_Have you ever even _looked _at her_?" Courtney argued, the audience faintly able to hear her. "_Seriously, why would you want to date someone that looks that horrific_?"

Jackson arched an eyebrow. "Now I'm starting to wonder whether or not you've ever looked at your boyfriend." Duncan, who had been playing with his pocket knife, started paying attention because he was being mentioned.

"_What's _that_ supposed to mean_?"

"When you started dating… that guy, I didn't really approve of him, either. But that didn't stop you."

"_But Duncan's different than Rikki! He's_-"

He interrupted her by saying, "And now the same thing's happened to me, except you aren't letting it go, like I did."

"_But, I_-"

"And since I'm your older brother, you shouldn't be as judgmental about my girlfriend as I was about Duncan. So you need to let it go and leave me alone so I can go make out with my girlfriend."

* * *

"I've always wanted to say that!" Jackson happily told the camera.

* * *

Jamal looked around in the outhouse, then back at the camera. "Since when does this place have a Confession Cam?"

* * *

"Goodbye, Courtney." And with that, he snapped the phone shut, ending the call.

Back at camp, a loud, shrill scream could be heard by the campers, even from their distant location from Courtney.

* * *

"I'm starting to like that Jackson guy," Selena said, smirking.

* * *

Courtney stomped back into the mess hall, slammed back down into her seat, and pouted.

Back on screen, Chris had finally gotten to Jamal, who was dressed in a pair of tight blue swim trunks. He lifting some handheld weights, his feet dangling in the hot tub. Aparrantly, Duke and Raven had gone somewhere else to make out. "So, you like it at the Playa?"

"Yeah, it's awesome!" Jamal set the weights aside and slowly sank his way into the hot tub. "This place has a gym. What's not to love?"

"Good to hear…" Chris looked around, then back at Jamal. "Hey, have you seen Damien? I haven't seen him anywhere all day?"

Jamal shrugged. "Last I saw him, he was in his room when one of the maids. went in there to clean up."

As if on cue, a woman with long, blonde hair dressed in a maid's uniform raced past them. She was screaming her head off as a small boy chased her, carrying a powered up handheld vacuum and trying to suck her long locks up in it.

Chris and Jamal exchanged a glance after the two ran off screen. "Guess Willow found him."

*T*S*R*

The kids had tried plan after plan to see what was happening in the mess hall. They all ended in failures, and most of them were so dangerous, their siblings would have killed them if they knew what they had done. They only had one more plan up their sleeves.

"Even I think this plan is bad, guys," Zoey admitted, looking at her friends. "And I thought using Duncan's favorite lighter to make my teddy bear warmer was a great idea…" She shuddered. "Boy, was I wrong…"

"Don't worry, this'll work out great," Grace reassured, tightening the rope tied around Herbie's waist. "We just lower Herbie down the window on the roof on this rope and he can tell us what they're watching."

"But what if he falls?" Zoey asked, worried for her friend's health. "What if you fall lowering him down?"

"I won't! I'm super strong!" Grace flexed her tiny muscles to prove her point.

Zoey squeezed her flexed arm muscles, it feeling more like a bag of pudding. She didn't really know the difference, though. "Wow, you really are!"

"I found the rope ladder, gang!" Xavier, on top of the mess hall, dropped a rope ladder down so that he could climb back down.

"How'd you get up there in the first place?" Zoey asked when he got down.

"I have Spiderman skills!" He puffed out his chest. "I can climb anything in the whole wide world!"

* * *

"I think I'm in love with that boy!" Zoey squealed, giggling.

* * *

Herbie climbed up the ladder first, followed by Grace. They crawled over to the window and Grace quietly lifted the glass up. "You ready?" she asked.

The redheaded twin nodded, a brave, gap-toothed smile on his face.

Back down on the ground, Xavier and Zoey tried to look at what their friends were doing. "Since when does the mess hall have a window up there?"

Xavier scratched his head and shrugged. "Since it became significant to the current plot, I guess."

Zoey looked at him like he had spoken an entirely different language.

* * *

"I've never heard so many big words from someone my age in my entire life!" She grinned and giggled. "Now I _know_ I'm in love with him!"

* * *

*T*S*R*

"And that concludes this episode of Total Sibling Rivalry!" Chris called, winking at the camera. "Tune in next week to catch our remaining campers doing another crazy challenge. That's always worth a laugh!" He stood still and blinked. Something wasn't right, and the viewers could tell. The host's expression flashed to anger and he yelled, "Jude! Where are you?" He glanced around some more and it appeared like he saw him. "Jude, get away from the buffet table!"

"But I got hungry!" he yelled back.

"It's not your job to eat! It's your job to operate the camera!"

"That's what the tripod is for!" Jude argued, sounding like he had a full mouth.

Chris sighed, and squeezed the skin in between his eyebrows. He walked over to the camera, quickly whispered, "See you later, folks!" and turned the camera off himself.

"Wow, that's a really nice resort." Marilee looked to Geoff, who was sitting next to her, and whispered, "Next time we lose, get the others to vote me off, okay?"

*T*S*R*

Grace grabbed the rope and nodded at Herbie, who made his way over to the open window. He stuck one leg in, slowly easing his way in the opening. Grace tightened her grip, bracing herself for the added weight that was soon to come. Once the second leg went in, Grace couldn't even handle holding the small amount of weight. She plunged forward, taking Herbie with her.

They hardly landed in the middle of the mess hall floor, right in between the tables. The projector had just been flicked off and the lights were turned on. The only two remaining campers, Trent and Izzy, looked down at the two little kids.

"Grace? Herbie?" Trent kneeled down, got Grace off of Herbie and stood her up. He glanced up at their mode of entrance, then back down at her, looking pretty angry. "What did you think you were you doing? You two could have gotten hurt!"

"Oh, chillax, Trent!" Izzy grabbed Herbie, disposed of the rope tied around him and hoisted him onto her back. "They were probably playing Ninja to see what we were up to. I don't blame them! I would have done it, too. I just would have worn a disguise so I wouldn't get busted for it." She stuck a hand behind her head and wagged a stern finger at her little brother. "Haven't I taught you anything, young man?"

"You taught me to use a strong rope," Herbie said. "Grace wanted to use yarn, but I told her rope was much better!"

Izzy looked back at Trent. "See, _my_ sib's responsible about his actions!" The redhead piggybacked her brother out, congratulating him for his first attempt at breaking and entering.

Trent sat down on the floor so that it would be easier to talk to Grace on her own level. "Okay, we need to talk. Why'd you try to sneak in here?"

"We wanted to see the movie you all were watching," Grace admitted, guiltily shifting her feet on the wooden floor.

"Grace, you guys weren't allowed to watch that for a reason," Trent pointed out. He lifted her chin up so that she would look him in the eye. "You know better than to sneak around like that."

"I know," Grace sighed, trying to avoid his stern gaze. "But I like movies, too… Trent, can't you tell me what you were watching?" Grace hugged his leg and looked at him with big, teary eyes. "Pretty, pretty please with sugar and nine cherries on top?"

Trent laughed at her cute attempts to squeeze information out of him and ruffled her hair. "All we did was watch Chris talk to the campers who got voted off last week," he explained. "It… wasn't that exciting." It wouldn't have been for a three year old, at least… What, with Duke and Raven's affectionate affection.

Grace frowned. "That's it?"

He shrugged. "That's it."

His little sister pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. "Man, we did all that bad stuff for nothing!"

"I'm sorry, kiddo…" He picked her up and started to walk her out. Before they were out the door, he stopped, looked back down at her, and cocked an eyebrow. "What _kind _of bad stuff?"

Grace just guiltily grinned. Boy, oh boy, he did not even want to _know _the things they had done that afternoon…

* * *

Oh, the drama that's going on at Playa de Losers! Well, with Jackson, Rikki, and Courtney via phone, at least… XD

Like the Chris/Jude voice actors joke? I'm so funny, aren't I? XP It's not the Jude from 6teen, just a new OC of mine named Jude. Cuz I thought it's be funny :3

What will happen on their other day off? Will the original TDI characters get more screen time? What the heck ever happened to adorable little Rental? Will the kids actually poop in Chef's shoes? Or will they come up with a plan that _doesn't sound like it was thought up by a five year old?_


	21. Day 7: The Wolf Days of Summer

Well, it's Sunday here at Total Sibling Rivalry. That basically means the cameras are off and we get to see what the campers are doing in their down time. Yay!

This chapter is very, very short compared to previous ones, but don't worry, the other ones will be much longer! And 'sides, this is a cute chapter :3

Read, review, and enjoy!

* * *

The four interns were scattered across the island, in search of something. Their handsome boss was helping them, but he was about as successful as they were. Chris stopped his ATV by the bonfire pit and whipped out a walkie talkie. "Any signs of Rental, Marina?"

"Nope," Marina answered through the device.

He switched to Mia's walkie talkie to ask her. "Mia?"

"Nothing."

"Tamyra?"

"Zip."

"Holly?"

"Nada."

Chris pinched the skin between his eyes and groaned. "Man, I guess that means I'll never get my deposit back on that mangy mutt… Don't know why the thing was so expensive, anyway. It was only _half _wolf…"

"Chris McLean!" Marina yelled at him via the walkie talkie. "Don't you have any compassion?"

"Why are you wasting your breath asking?" Mia asked, using the three-way call feature. "That's like asking Katy Perry if she has any normal outfits."

"Just shut up and stop searching," Chris sighed. "I guess we can cut from the cooking budget a little more to make up for the losses. It's not like the food could get any worse." He carelessly tossed the device aside and zipped off on the ATV once again to go tell Chef the news.

*T*S*R*

"Zoey, why are we out here?" Grace asked her friend as they made their way through the forest.

"'Cause the forest is fun!" Zoey chirped, jumping over a big rock.

"No, it's not!" Grace swatted at a fly that kept buzzing around her head and whined, "There are all these bugs and there's mud and bugs and leaves and bugs and… bugs. And more bugs."

"You don't like bugs?"

"What was your first clue?" Grace muttered, rolling her eyes. As she took another step, she heard a squish. Looking down, her nose wrinkled and she cried, "Ewwwwww, gross!" She dragged the same foot on the grass, trying to wipe something off. "I stepped in doggie doo-doo!"

Zoey didn't share her disgust. In fact, she looked happy. "That must mean there's a puppy out here somewhere! I love puppies!" She ran around and looked in every bush, trying to find it. No dice.

But Zoey wasn't one to give up, so she didn't. She kept looking until she finally found what she was looking for. A happy little wolf pup was running around in a large clearing the girls happened upon, chasing a pretty little butterfly.

"Doggie!" Zoey ran over to the wolf and Grace was close behind her.

Before Zoey could pet her, Grace gasped and held her back. "Wait, that's Rental!"

"Rental?" Zoey asked, confused.

"The wolf that scared Zack. She could hurt you!"

"But she's so cute! Cute things can't hurt people!"

Grace couldn't help but find the irony in that. "Heh… Take my word for it. I'm cute _and_ dangerous."

Zoey looked her up and down and shrugged, not looking impressed. "Meh. I've seen cuter."

Before Grace could pummel her for saying such a thing, Zoey started stroking the cutie. "Hi, puppy! I'm Zoey! This is my besterest friend, Grace!" She shoved said besterest friend toward the wolf and make her pet her.

Grace actually seemed to enjoy it. "She _is_ cute…" She frowned. "Too cute to have an icky name like 'Rental.' Let's name her something else!"

Zoey bounced up and down and yelled, "Zoey! Let's name her Zoey!"

Grace frowned again. "That's your name."

Zoey stopped bouncing. "I like my name."

"Yeah, but it might get confusing. Let's name her something else." The evil little girl stroked her chin and snapped her fingers. Or at least attempted to. "Oh, I know!"

Zoey grinned and started bouncing again. "Yeah, me too!"

Both yelled their name ideas at the same time.

"Peanut!"

"Fluffy! … Peanut?" Zoey muttered, after what Grace suggested registered into her mind.

"Fluffy?" Grace scoffed. "That's a cat's name!"

"But it's true! Look how fluffy she is!" She stroked the wolf once more to prove her point, and received a lick on the cheek.

"But Peanut's a cute name! And besides, my neighbor Josie has a dog named Peanut." Her brows furrowed and she growled. "Grr… _Josie_… Having a better dog with the same name as hers would make her super jealous!"

"I like Fluffy!" Zoey whined.

"Peanut!"

"Fluffy!"

"Peanut!"

"Fluffy!"

"Peanut!"

"Fluffy!"

"Pea- Wait, I have an idea!" Grace pointed at herself and said, "I wanna name her Peanut." She pointed at Zoey and added, "And you want to name her Fluffy. Let's mash both names together to make a super cool name!"

Zoey clapped happily. "Good idea! We'll call her… Fluffy Peanut!"

Grace shook her head. "No, that sounds weird…" She thought about it some more, then gasped and asked, "What were those peanut butter and marshmallow sammies that DJ made yesterday called?"

"Fuffernutters, I think," Zoey told her. She blinked, then gasped and grabbed Grace's hand. "Oh, perfect! We'll call her Fluffernutter!"

"Yay!" Both girls glommed onto the newly named Fluffernutter, who happily licked both of their faces.

Zoey giggled and wiped the drool off with her sleeve, then realization struck her. "Wait a sec." She looked down sadly. "We can't _keep_ Fluffernutter."

"Why not?" Grace asked, pulling her and her friend up.

"Duncan doesn't like doggies."

"Why not?"

"He wouldn't say. We sorta talked about it before coming here…"

_Flashback: May 20th__, 5:24 PM_

"_Duncan?" Zoey asked, climbing next to her brother onto the couch in the Caliver's living room._

"_Hmm?" Duncan grunted, not looking away from the TV flickering in front of him._

"_Do you think Mommy and Daddy would let me have a puppy?"_

_Duncan took his eyes off the screen and glared down at Zoey, looking almost offended by her asking that. "No. And even if they did, I'd stop them. I hate dogs."_

"_Why?" she asked, with sad, glistening eyes._

_Duncan looked unfazed by her adorableness. "Because I just do." He turned back to the television, still wearing a sour look on his face._

"_Oh." Zoey looked around, deep in thought, then looked back up at her brother. "If you die, _then _can I have one?"_

_End Flashback_

"Yeah… That didn't end so well," Zoey told her, cringing at the memory.

"Oh, that stinks." Grace tapped her chin, then realized something. "Trent probably wouldn't like me having a pet, either." She shrugged. "But most of the time, I can bat my eyes at him and he'll give me what I want or forgive me instantly… But that isn't guaranteed."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I did that yesterday, but he's still really mad about that thing we did."

"Which thing?"

"The one with frogs."

"Oh." Zoey cringed. "Yeah, that one was pretty bad. Why'd you tell him?"

"He made me! But Trent would have been even madder if I told him about the plan with the hula hoop and the frying pan and the-"

Zoey shrugged and argued, "Hey, if you hadn't wasted all that time putting the sunscreen on that soccer ball, it might have worked."

Grace nodded. "I guess that's true… But back to Fluffernutter."

"All righty then."

"Well…" Grace evilly smirked. "What they don't know won't hurt 'em…"

Zoey gaped at her, shocked. "You want me to _lie_ to Duncan?!"

"No… Selena, too," Grace added. "She doesn't seem like she can keep a secret."

"I… I can't lie to my big brother and sister!" Zoey choked out, looking horrified by the idea.

"It's not lying!" Grace reassured her, slinging a small arm around her shoulder. "We're just not completely telling the truth."

"Then isn't that still lying?"

Grace blinked. "… Shut up." She grabbed her by the face and made her look her in the eyes. "Don't you wanna keep Fluffernutter?"

Zoey nodded, but it was hard, since Grace's grip restricted her head motions.

"Then we gotta do this. We'll hide her under one of our beds when there aren't any other people in the cabin and it will be a fool proof plan!"

"Well… you are pretty smart. Trent _still_ hasn't found out about the plan with the big bottle of Chris' hair gel and the dynamite…"

Grace frowned and let go of Zoey's face. "I thought we swore to never talk about that again."

Zoey slapped a hand over her mouth. "Oops. Sorry, forgot!"

*T*S*R*

None of the other girls were in the girl's side of the cabin, since dinner had started a while ago. Grace and Zoey took this as the perfect opportunity to sneak Fluffernutter in.

"How are we gonna hide her?" Zoey asked, setting up some bedding made from an old blanket for their pet under Grace's bottom bunk.

"We'll have to train her to hide when we tell her to," Grace explained. Try to look authoritative, she pointed to the wolf and ordered, "Fluffernutter, get under the bed!"

To her surprise, she zipped under there according to her orders and snuggled into the bedding.

"Hmm," Zoey mumbled. "It's like she's already trained."

"Maybe she is," Grace mumbled. "She's been rented a lot. She _is_ a pro…"

"Yay!" Zoey clapped joyously. "We've got a pro doggie!" Standing up, she walked to the door. "I'll sneak some water from the kitchen for her." She shut the door and raced toward the mess hall, hoping she wouldn't get caught.

*T*S*R*

Dinner was pretty normal. Same people, same slop. The only difference was that the Killer Bears' table was missing two little teammates. Just as Trent sat down and started eating, he finally noticed his sister's absence. He turned to Selena, who was sitting across from him and asked, "Hey, Sel, have you seen Grace?"

Selena shook her head. "Uh-uh. Haven't seen her all day." Under her breath, she added, "Thankfully."

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing!"

Trent looked down at his slop, then back up at Selena. "I'd better go look for her, then…" He stood up, looked back down at his meal and added, "It also gives me an excuse to skip dinner…" He walked out without another word.

Selena chewed her food for a moment, then turned to Duncan, who was sitting diagonally from her. "Speaking of lost little sisters, where's Zoey? I haven't seen her around, either."

Duncan shrugged. "I saw her this afternoon at lunch, but that was it."

Selena tapped her chin. "Two missing little girls… That just spells disaster."

Duncan frowned, realizing her point. "Very true." He grabbed his tray and stood up. "Guess we'd better find her before a mongoose attacks her. Again." Selena got up with him and both disposed of their gross meals as they left to find Zoey.

*T*S*R*

Since Chef had left the kitchen to get some decent food at the camp services tent, sneaking a bowl of water from the kitchen wasn't that difficult for Zoey. As she tiptoed back to the cabins, she almost dropped the bowl completely when somebody yelled her name. "Zoey!"

She squealed, then turned around to find Duncan and Selena behind her, staring at her. "There you are," Selena muttered, looking relieved.

"Where have you been all day?" Duncan asked, looking suspiciously at her guilty expression.

"Um… Uh… Me and Grace played in the woods all day. That's all," she answered, trying to hide the bowl behind her back.

Duncan noticed her sneakiness and peeked over her head, taking a look behind her back. "What's the bowl of water for?"

"Uh…" Zoey's face heated up as she tried to think of a phony explanation. Luckily, it was too dark for them too see her blush. Her sweaty forehead and fiery cheeks gave her an idea. "Oh! I, uh, got hot from all the playing, so I got this water to cool me off!" She dumped the entire bowl of water over her head, completely soaking herself. She grinned the biggest grin she could manage, looking up at her siblings with innocence.

Both looked at her like she had grown an extra head.

"Are you buying this for even one second?" Selena whispered quietly enough so that Zoey couldn't hear.

Shrugging, Duncan whispered back, "Sure. I mean, she always _has_ been a little strange. I think Mom drank a little when she was pregnant with her…"

Selena looked back down at her sister, still not entirely convinced. "Well… If you say so. Uh… Hope you're cool now…" The older siblings walked off, heading back toward the mess hall.

Zoey sighed, both in relief and frustration. She silently walked back to the kitchen to get another bowl of water for the thirsty pup.

*T*S*R*

Grace giggled as Fluffernutter chewed on Gwen's diary, which she had purposely set on her own bunk for her to destroy. "Good girl!" Grace petted her and got a big lick in return. "Who's a good, destructive doggie?" she cooed affectionately.

"Grace? Where are you?" a voice from outside yelled.

Grace gasped. "Trent!" she whispered. "Oh no!" Without really thinking, she tossed Gwen's chewed-up diary under her bed, got under the covers and nudged Fluffernutter under there with her.

Trent opened the door and poked his head in. "Grace?" When he saw her in bed, he breathed a sigh of relief and stepped in. "There you are. Why didn't you show up to dinner?"

"Uh…" Fluffernutter growled underneath the covers and Grace, thinking fast, gripped her stomach and moaned, "I feel siiiiick…"

"Really?" Trent walked over, kneeled down next to her bunk and felt her forehead to check for a fever. "You don't feel hot or anything. Maybe it's something you ate." He rolled his eyes and mumbled, "With Chef's cooking, I wouldn't be surprised…"

Grace nodded and whined, trying her best to act sick.

"I guess you just need to get some rest," Trent mused. "Give me a kiss goodnight and I'll let you sleep."

As Grace tried to keep Fluffernutter from moving, she realized that she couldn't even waste one second or else she'd get caught. "Uh… I don't think I should. I might give you my sick cooties."

Trent laughed and said, "I can't catch your food poisoning, Grace. Just one little kiss isn't going to hurt me."

"Uh… okay." She leaned forward to give Trent, who had closed his eyes and turned his cheek toward her, a quick goodnight kiss. Before she could, Fluffernutter popped out from under the covers and gave Trent a sloppy lick where Grace's kiss should have been. She shoved her back under and grinned sheepishly at Trent, who had opened his eyes and looked at her, very confused.

"Gee… That sure was an interesting kiss," he told her, trying to smile. "Uh…" He got up and started walking out. "Get some rest now."

"Okay, Trent," Grace mumbled as she laid down, a little embarrassed by what happened. "I love you."

"Back at you, kiddo." He waved and closed the door behind him as he left.

Trent stood on the porch in silence for a moment, then wiped his saliva-covered cheek off with his sleeve. "Maybe she _did_ have a fever…" He tapped his chin in thought and muttered, "Or maybe that time I dropped her on her head when she was a baby is finally kicking in…"

* * *

Gasp! That was a close one, Zoey and Grace!

And trust me, this is not the last time you'll see Rental/Fluffernutter... Mwahaha! Foreshadowing is evil!

Next chapter will be a challenge, I promise!


	22. Day 8: Baby Simulator Got Back

SUPER SPECIAL AWESOME QUICK UPDATE!

Wow, I went on a writing spree today! :D I hope you all enjoy the pop culture references. I felt very pop culture-ish today. And I want to make fun of Megan Fox's weird eyebrows -_-;

And Marilee's kind of nice in this chapter, so that's a refreshing change.

Read, review, and enjoy!

* * *

LeShawna hastily made her way back to the cabin, a big glass of orange juice in her hand. Once she was inside, she walked over to the bunks and gave it to Jovie, who was lying in bed and looked terribly ill. Her skin was paler than it should have been, except for her nose, which was beet red. Her bed was littered with used tissues and she was sneezing her brains out.

"Here you go, baby sis." LeShawna sat down on her bed and smoothed her messy hair out a little.

Marilee, dressed in a pink halter top, black ruffle mini skirt, and matching pick and black high heels, trotted into the cabin, too. In her hands, however, was a steaming hot bowl of chicken noodle soup. "Oh, you poor thing," she said sympathetically as LeShawna got a bedside table for her to place the soup on. Marilee set the soup down, adding, "You look even worse than usual."

Jovie cocked an eyebrow and, with a nasally voice, asked, "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"I guess." Marilee shrugged. "I'm new to the sympathy thing."

As Jovie start to slowly slurp the soup, LeShawna looked back at the blonde and asked, "How'd you manage to get this good looking soup, anyway?"

Marilee smirked and put her hands on her hips, shifting weight from one leg to another. "If you're me, you can pretty much get anything you want with a mini skirt and a pair of high heels…"

_**Flashback: 5 minutes before then**_

_Marilee walked into the kitchen and held out a white mini skirt and matching white heels to go with it. "Here's the skirt and high heels you've been looking for."_

"_Oh, perfect," Chef sarcastically grumbled, snatching the clothing items from her. "The ones that go with my nurse's uniform are looking kind of ratty… I don't like dressing like this, you know," he pointed out. "It's just part of my contract that I forgot to read. But thanks, I owe you one."_

"_Can I have that bowl of soup?" Marilee asked, pointing to the hot soup on the counter next to Chef._

_Stuffing his new clothes into a nearby drawer, he shrugged and mumbled, "Sure, why not."_

_She grabbed the bowl, thanked him, and walked out._

_**End Flashback**_

"Oh." LeShawna breathed a sigh of relief. "For a second there, I thought you meant you-"

"What?" Marilee gasped. "Ew, did you seriously think I would-"

"No, no…" LeShawna argued guiltily. "It just kind of _sounded_ like you-"

"Gosh, LeShawna!" Marilee whined, stomping her foot. "I know I'm not the nicest person on the island, but I'm not a slut!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" LeShawna apologized, holding a surrendering hand up. Crossing her arms, she mumbled, "Just sort of sounded like it, that's all…"

After a few more coughs from Jovie, there were two loud knocks on the door and before anyone could call out and ask who it was, Izzy kicked the door open, practically ripping it off of its hinges. The other girls screamed, and it made Jovie cough and sneeze even more.

"Izzy, what's the matter with you?" LeShawna yelled, jolting up. "You didn't have to kick the door open! You live here, too! And besides, it wasn't even locked!"

"But that way's a bazillion times more fun!" Izzy said, smiling like crazy. She bounced over to Jovie's bed and added, "I couldn't help but notice that you're sick."

"What was you first clue?" Jovie asked, before going into another coughing fit.

"Well, I can do something that can help!"

"You're not going to flash me again, are you?" Jovie whined, blowing her nose. "It may have worked on Scrubs, but that doesn't mean it will work in real life…"

"No, not that, silly," Izzy giggled, waving that off. "I learn all my medical knowledge from _comedy_ shows."

Marilee cocked an eyebrow. "But Scrubs is a comedy sh-" She paused when she saw the amused look on Izzy's face. "Oh, I get it. It's a joke…"

"Now, back to business. I snuck into Chris' place to use his computer to Google how to help you feel better, Jovie. I mostly just got a bunch of stupid, useless stuff, like eating soup and getting lots of rest and all that poppycock. Well, I found something logical that'll cure it!" She pulled out a large bottle and handed it to Jovie, then placed a large cowboy hat on the table next to the soup. "Just drink that until you can see two hats."

Before Jovie could even see what was in the bottle, LeShawna grabbed it away from her and gasped when she saw what it is. "This is whiskey!"

Izzy clapped. "Yeppers! She'll be cured in no time! All she has to do is drink while looking at this hat. She just has to drink to intoxication and she'll be cold-free!"

"Izzy, she can't drink alcohol!" LeShawna fumed, gripping the bottle tightly. "She's underage!"

"Oh, right." Izzy dug around in her green top and produced a bright blue Silly Straw. She stuck it in the top of the bottle and handed it back to LeShawna, who just stood there in shock and stared at her.

Marilee shook her head in shame. "Seriously? A Futurama joke? Really? Have we _really _stooped that low?"

"Where did you even get this, anyway?" LeShawna demanded, thrusting the bottle back at Izzy, who caught it with ease.

"I got it from Chris' liquor cabinet," Izzy explained, swishing the bottle around and watching the liquid wade back and forth. "And trust me, it wasn't really that hard."

_**Flashback: An hour previous to that moment in time**_

_Izzy walked out of Chris' private study and quietly hummed the James Bond theme as she snuck by Chris' bedroom, where he was soundly asleep. She wandered into the kitchen, where she walked over to a large cabinet, full of many bottles of assorted liquor. _

_She tried prying it open, but with no success. Izzy then noticed the lock on it, and the letter keys underneath where the password was supposed to be typed in. _

_Izzy tapped her chin, deep in thought. "Let's see. A password. What would a deep, meaningful guy like Chris McLean use as a password?" _

_After she thought about it some more, she snapped her fingers and, as she typed each letter in, spelled out, "C-H-R-I-S. Chris!" _

_The technological lock beeped a few times, then unlocked and automatically opened the doors. Izzy snagged the nearest bottle of whiskey and zipped off, humming the James Bond theme once again._

_**End Flashback**_

"Figures his password would be the one thing he loves most," Marilee muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Izzy, go put this back," LeShawna sighed, looking exhausted by the crazy girl's antics.

Izzy pouted. "Fine!" She snatched the hat. "But I'm taking my new cowboy hat with me!"

"Hey!" a voice yelled from the boy's side of the Rabid Wolves cabin. "Where's my lucky hat?"

"Oops," Izzy winced, and quietly put the hat on her head. "Um… I was never here!" With that, she crashed through their window and bolted off, screaming, "You'll never catch me alive!"

Silence.

"Did _that_ make you feel any better?" Marilee asked, out of curiosity.

"No," Jovie bluntly answered, blowing her nose.

*T*S*R*

It was about ten in the morning. The campers had just finished their breakfast and were gathered in the campfire pit, waiting for Chris to tell them about their next challenge. Izzy had given Geoff's hat back to him, claiming she 'found' it. Geoff didn't really care if she stole it or not. He was just happy to get his hat back.

DJ looked around, noticing that one of their teammates was missing. "Where's Jovie?" he asked LeShawna

"Poor baby's got a monster cold," LeShawna explained. "She could barely get out of bed."

"Oh, that's too bad," DJ said, looking down at his feet. He looked back up and added, "Maybe I can make her my momma's famous Rise and Shine protein shake later. It cures a cold like that." He snapped to emphasize his point.

Before she could say anything, Chris arrived with the usual smile he had when he was about to torture his favorite campers. "Okay, kiddies, you'd better hang on to your hats! Because this is going to be one extreme episode! There will be cliff jumping, girls mud wrestling each other, and everyone's favorite, alligator-" He paused and looked around. "Where the heck is Jovie? She can't mud wrestle in a bikini if she's not even here!"

"She's sick," Marilee explained. "If you take a look at the contract, you'll see that you can't force anyone into competing when they're not physically healthy enough to participate." She pulled out her contract, flipped to the page that it was on and tossed it to him so he could see for himself.

After reading, Chris rolled his eyes and tossed the contract back to her. "Fine, she's safe for today. Why do you carry that around with you, anyway?"

"In case I ever need to make a point like this," Marilee proudly said, placing her hands on her hips. "Or in case I ever need to sue."

* * *

"Maaaan," Courtney whined, pouting. "Why couldn't Marilee be on _my_ team?"

* * *

"Wait… so does that mean there's an even number of people?" Chris made a quick count, seeing that there were twenty campers now instead of twenty one. "Hmm…" He stroked his chin, a sly smile on his face. "In that case, I have another challenge in mind…"

He whipped out a cell phone and speed dialed Chef. "Hey, Chef? Yeah, get rid of the mud pit and alligators… I don't know _how_, just make it happen! And bring the box that was shipped here yesterday to the campfire pit pronto!" He snapped the phone shut and stuffed it back in his pocket.

"Okay, forget the stuff I said before, people." Chris smiled. "This challenge will be much more tame. Hopefully, not _too_ tame…" He walked over to Duncan and Courtney, who were standing next to each other, and put his hands on their shoulders. "However, this will be the toughest challenge you'll have to face in life: parenthood!"

Duncan cocked an eyebrow and glanced at Courtney. "Is there something you haven't told me yet?"

Courtney slapped him, blushing furiously.

* * *

"Just to set the record straight, I have never, EVER even gotten close to doing that with Duncan," Courtney argued, looking completely embarrassed. "At least, not until we're married…" She slapped a hand over her mouth and yelled, "Not that I _want _to marry him! No way!" She took a second to think and added, "I mean, if he ever proposed, I'd at least _think_ about it, but…" She sighed in defeat and buried her face in her hands.

* * *

"Here's the deal," Chris started, walking off as Duncan rubbed his sore cheek. "You're all going to be partnered off into 'married' couples." He leaned in toward the camera and whispered, "Wouldn't want to promote teen pregnancy, now would we?" He winked, then looked back to the campers and said, "You'll each get one baby simulator doll, either a boy or a girl."

"What else is there?" Gwen sarcastically said.

"Your mom, that's what else there is," Chris childishly grumbled. He coughed and said, "Anyway, before I was so _rudely_ interrupted," He took a second to glare at Gwen and continued, "I was saying that each couple will be assigned a baby simulator to take care of for the next three days. Think it will be easy?"

He got a few nods in response. The handsome host pulled out a megaphone and screamed, "**WRONG**!"

After the campers took their hands off of their pained ears, Chris tossed the megaphone aside. "Now, over the next three days, you'll have to feed, change, and love your little robotic bundle of joy. There are sensors in the babies that will tell us if they're being properly taken care of. If you're a good parent, your team gets a point. If you're baby is neglected, not only will 'Child Protection Services' take away your baby, but your team will also lose a point," Chris stated, air-quoting Child Protection Services.

Heather raised a hand. Chris nodded in her direction, signaling her to ask her question. "When you say 'Child Protection Services,' what exactly do you mean by that? Did you get an actual agent to play that role?"

"No. I got the handsomest, most lovable person I know to do that." He pulled a baseball cap out from behind his back and put it on proudly. It read, "CPS" on it.

"Of course," Courtney mumbled, rolling her eyes.

"Now, let's assign our new mommies and daddies, shall we?" Chris whipped out a clip board and started reading off of it. "Let's get the obvious ones out of the way… Gwen and Trent, Courtney and Duncan, Izzy and Owen. No duh."

Duncan lightly elbowed Courtney, a small, sexy smirk on his lips. Courtney lightly slapped him for what she knew he was thinking.

"Next, some of the rookie campers… Selena and Zack." Selena and Zack grinned at each other and Duncan, who was standing next to where Zack was sitting, lifted him up by his shirt and hissed, "If you give her a _real _baby, you know what I'm going to do to you, right?"

Zack nodded in silent fear and Duncan threw him back down into his seat.

* * *

"Why is it that almost every challenge in this stupid competition has involved Selena and _him_ spending excessive amounts of time with each other?" Duncan asked, looking infuriated. Tapping his chin, he mumbled, "Well, I guess that time during Phobia Factor was of _my_ doing…" He shrugged and grinned. "But, hey, at least that time, she kicked him in the coconuts, so look who's the smart one now."

* * *

As Zack rubbed his sore butt, he looked to see if Selena had seen what her brother had done. She had been too busy tracing something into the dirt with a stick to notice. He sighed in defeat.

"Next up is Keith and Marilee," Chris said, backing away from Marilee, who he was expecting to explode.

However, she didn't. "Okay, that's fine."

Chris frowned. "What? Aren't you mad?"

"No." Marilee shrugged. "Why would I be?"

"You aren't mad that I paired you up with the guy who undressed you with his eyes the first day?"

She shook her head. "No. Keith apologized for that and we're friends now. Didn't you watch the Crazy Chase episode? Aren't you the one who edits that stuff?"

"Uh… no. I have people who do that for me." Chris looked back down at his clip board and pouted. "Fine, then. Ruin all the dramatic fun for the poor host, you party pooper."

Keith, sitting pretty close to Marilee, smiled at her, who gave him a small smile back.

* * *

"It's so awesome that Marilee doesn't hate me anymore," Keith happily said. He scratched his head and added, "Still, seeing her so angry was kind of hot…" He smirked. "Well, married people seem to hate each other. Especially married people with _kids_. She'll be Megan Fox hot by the time this challenge is over…"

* * *

"Have you ever noticed how _not_ hot Megan Fox is?" Geoff asked. "I mean, she has those weird eyebrows and it always looks like she's angry." He crossed his arms stubbornly and said, "Angry chicks so aren't hot." Arms still crossed, he shrugged and confessed, "I dunno what made me want to say that. It's just been on my mind for a while…" Geoff smiled goofily. "Probably because Candace is always so happy _and_ pretty…" He realized the camera was still there and whispered, "Oops." He uncrossed his arms, threw them up in the air and yelled, "Well, it's _true_!"

* * *

Chris looked down at his clip board and smiled at the next couple he silently read. "Next up is another surprising couple… Geoff and Candace!"

* * *

"YES!" Geoff cried as he looking up hopefully, hands clasped. "There _is_ a God!"

* * *

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Candace cried, eyes shut tight and hands in the traditional prayer position. "Thank you, Santa!"

* * *

Geoff had a small smile on his face, but didn't show how excited he was. "Cool."

Candace was hiding her delight, too. "Yeah. Cool."

"Another shocking couple… DJ and Heather!"

Heather smiled at DJ, but when she turned around, she saw LeShawna glaring at her.

* * *

"I swear," LeShawna muttered, slamming a fist into her palm. "If that little string bean hurts sweet DJ, she's going to get it! I've seen the way he looks at her! If he ever goes out with her, he'll be making the biggest mistake of his life!"

* * *

Chris straightened his cap and said, "Now for the kiddies… Grace is with Herbie, Zoey's with Xavier."

"Yay!" Zoey glomped Xavier and yelled, "We're married!"

Duncan groaned and slapped his forehead.

* * *

"Oh, great…" Duncan rubbed his forehead and mumbled, "As if I didn't have _enough _to worry about… Now my four year old sister is married, with a baby!"

* * *

And last, but not least…" Chris took one last look at the clipboard and cried, "Cody and LeShawna!"

"Say what now?" LeShawna and Cody exchanged a confused glance.

"Yeah, I'm aware of the fact that the last one is a little… WTF," Chris said, tossing the clipboard aside. "But you were the only two left, so… Yeah."

"Izzy, what does WTF mean?" Herbie asked, yanking on her skirt to get her attention.

"Oh, you silly, silly little boy," Izzy cooed, bending down and patting him on the head. "It means 'Weasels Terminate Ferrets.'"

He stared blankly at her, so she explained, "A weasel terminating a ferret would be weird, right?" He nodded. "Well, so would LeShawna and Cody as a couple."

"Oooooh." He nodded in understanding. "You're so smart, Izzy!"

Izzy laughed, then sighed and replied, "I know… But your new wifey-kins is just as wily as I am, so watch your back!"

Herbie nodded and started spinning around, trying to literally watch his back.

Chef, covered in mud and alligator bites, finally arrived, carrying a huge cardboard box. He set it down and hissed, "I. Hate. You." at Chris before he stalked off.

"Whew, must be somebody's time of the month," Chris joked, but was hastily hit with a blob of mud. "Hey!" He wiped the goop off and opened the box. "Okay, these are your babies. I'll assign you either a boy or a girl and then you'll have one hour to decide on a first and middle name for it." He put the Child Protection Services hat back behind him and took out a doctor's head reflector and put it on his head, making him look like a knock-off doctor. "You have to come tell me your baby's name by the time the hour is over, or I'll name it for you."

"Let me guess." Gwen cocked an eyebrow. "Chris or Christine?"

Chris sighed happily. "You guys know me so well… So Gwen, you and Trent can go first."

The couple walked up to the box, while Chris dug around in it for a certain doll. He handed them a doll dressed in all blue clothes and said, "Congratulations, it's a boy!"

"Well, at least it already comes with clothes and junk," Gwen said as Trent took the baby and she took the diaper bag full of supplies from Chris that they would need. They grabbed one of the baby carriers to carry it around in and left the bonfire pit to think up a good full name for their new little boy.

"Duncan and Courtney, you two are next!"

Chris gently placed the pink-clothed baby in it's carrier, as to not make the sensors go off, and handed it to Duncan when he and Courtney came up. "It's a girl!"

"Oh, I was hoping it'd be a girl!" Courtney cheered as she took a diaper bag from Chris. "Isn't she adorable, Duncan?"

"It's a plastic doll, Courtney," Duncan pointed out. "She looks like all the other ones in this box, even the boy ones."

"Oh, hush up and let's go think of a name for her," Courtney said, grabbing his wrist and dragging him away.

"Izzy and Owen, come on down!" Chris yelled, waving for them to come over there.

"We're coming, Bob Barker!" Izzy dragged her hefty boyfriend over to the box and yanked the carrier away from Chris. "Let's name him Carlos! Or Luther! Or Kazoo! Oh, Kazoo is a good one… Oh, I know! Malik! Malik means king in Arabic, so if we name him Malik, he'll grow up to be the King of Canada!"

"Wait, Izzy!" Owen tried calming her down. "We don't even know if it's a boy yet…" He looked at Chris and asked, "Uh… It is a boy, right?"

"Yep," Chris answered, nodding.

"Still, can't we at least talk about his name?" Owen asked, looking sad.

"Aww," She patted him on the arm with her free hand and comfortingly said, "Of course, Owen. I would never pick his name without your approval!"

Owen smiled at her and her kindness. "Aww, that's sweet! Maybe I should get you pregnant for real!"

Izzy stared at him, as did everybody else. "Even _I_ find that weird, Owen."

Owen looked down at his feet, embarrassed. "Sorry." He grabbed their baby's bag and walked off with Izzy to discuss names.

"Zoey and Xavier, you've got a girl!"

"Yippie!" Zoey dragged Xavier up to Chris, where he handed them a slightly smaller baby, carrier and bag to make up for the difference in their tiny proportions compared to the others. Once they had everything, she dragged him away once more.

"Grace and Herbie get a boy," Chris said, holding up the boy version of what Zoey and Xavier got.

"Whoop de doo," Grace deadpanned, grabbing the bag while Herbie took the baby in it's carrier.

They walked off as Chris announced, "Geoff and Candace, a happy pair like you need a happy little girl to go along with you!"

"Awesome!" Candace ran up to Chris with Geoff close behind her and retrieved her baby. She held the carrier up higher so she could see it's face. "Aww, she has your eyes, Geoff!"

"And she has your nose!" Geoff said, poking Candace's nose, causing her to giggle. "Now let's go pick out an awesome name for her!"

"Hooray!" After Geoff grabbed the diaper bag, they ran off, too.

Chris grabbed another blue-clothed baby and said, "LeShawna and Cody. Boy, oh boy, you're getting a boy!"

"I don't really have much experience with babies," Cody nervously said, grabbing it's diaper bag. He was too afraid to hold it, so LeShawna could do that for now.

"Oh, don't worry, hun," LeShawna carefully grabbed the carrier and patted her fake husband on the shoulder. "I've babysat for a ton of the mommas in my building. I'll show you the ropes."

Cody grinned thankfully at her and they walked off.

"Marilee and Keith, time to get your baby!" Chris yelled, putting a light green-clothed baby in a matching carrier.

Keith ran up and grabbed the diaper bag. "Yeah!" Turning to Marilee, he asked, "Can we name him Jack? I've always liked the name Jack."

"We could, if it wasn't a girl…" Marilee couldn't help but smile at his goofiness.

"What? No way, that's totally a boy!"

"Uh, it really is a girl, dude," Chris stated, pulling the baby out of it's carrier.

"Prove it!" Keith yelled. Chris held the baby up to him and pulled down it's pants so that only Keith could see it.

His eyes widened and, as Chris put it's pants back on and placed it back in the carrier, he mumbled, "Okay, so it's a girl… Wow, didn't know they'd be anatomically correct…"

Marilee took the carrier after Chris handed it to her and told Keith, "C'mon, we'll work the name thing out." He nodded and followed her as she walked away.

"Selena and Zack… you two see the pattern, right? Yeah, you've got a boy."

"Aww, he's cute!" Selena cooed, picking the carrier up.

"He must get that from you," Zack suggestively said.

* * *

"Was that smooth?" Zack hopefully asked. "I sure hope that was smooth, because that's what I was trying to be…"

* * *

Selena blushed and they left the campfire pit, leaving only Heather, DJ and Chris.

"Well, well, you two are the only couple left," Chris smirked, handing them the last of the babies and bags. "It's a girl, by the way."

"Oh, that's nice." Heather smiled as she took the diaper bag, while DJ took the baby in it's carrier.

"I guess we can just talk about names here?" DJ asked. "I mean, we're the only ones left."

"Okay," Heather nodded. They wouldn't be bothered by Chris for a while, anyway. He had gone to get rid of the box and show off his cool doctor's gear to the interns.

They sat down and looked at the baby. She probably couldn't have passed as their daughter. She didn't have any Jamaican or Asian features on her. But I guess that wasn't really that important, since none of the other babies were ethnically or genetically correct. All were just Caucasian, blue-eyed little clones.

Looking back up at DJ, she asked, "Have any ideas? Honestly, nothing is coming to mind."

DJ sheepishly asked, "Can we name her Estelle? That's my grandmomma's name."

Heather grinned and cooed, "Aww, that's so sweet! And we can call her Essie for short." She patted him on the arm. "Great name, DJ!"

"Thanks," DJ said, looking back down at the baby. "What's your grandma's name?"

"Denise, but I don't think that really flows with Estelle…"

"Oh…" DJ thought for a moment, then asked, "What about her middle name?"

"Jeanette…" Heather thought about it, then smiled again and said, "Estelle Jeanette… I like it! How about you?"

"Perfect!" DJ and Heather high-fived and waited for Chris to come back so they could tell him their baby's name.

DJ looked down, noticing something for the first time. He bit his lip, trying hard not to laugh.

Heather looked at him strangely. "What's so funny?"

"I… I think Selena sat here before me."

"What's so funny about that?"

He pointed down to a small patch of dirt by his feet. Heather looked at what it was and couldn't help but find it cute.

While she was being unaware of Duncan threatening Zack, Selena has drawn a heart in the dirt and written 'S+Z' into it.

Heather looked back up at DJ and they couldn't help but laugh. "She's making it really obvious, isn't she?" Heather asked.

"Big time."

*T*S*R*

When they walked in the communal bathrooms and saw that they were alone, Grace and Herbie figured it would be a good time to name the baby in privacy. "Let's name him Wiggles!" Herbie happily cried, hugging the baby

"No!" Grace yelled, making the baby cry. "That's a stupid name! We're naming him Ben!"

Herbie comforted the baby as he cowered in fear of his new 'wife.' "Uh… Okay. Can I pick the middle name?"

"Fine," Grace seethed. "As long as it's _not_ Wiggles…"

"Uh… Herbie tapped his chin with his free hand and suggested, "James?"

Grace calmed down. "That's actually not a bad name. Benjamin James, it is!"

"Benjamin?" Herbie asked, scratching his head. "Is that what Ben is short for?"

"Yeah." Grace gave him a suspicious look. "What'd you think it was short for?"

"Benelli," Herbie said. "That's what Izzy called the shotgun she took from Grandpa after he died…"

* * *

"Note to self: when I do get old enough to marry a boy," Grace mused, not really noticing the camera, "marry one that doesn't have a crazy big sister. I don't want to see _that _every Christmas!"

* * *

*T*S*R*

"I was really hoping it would be a boy," Keith whined, sitting on a rock near the woods.

Marilee rolled her eyes as she comforted the baby simulator, who had started making fussing noises. "Why, so you could teach it how to play baseball? We're only keeping this thing for three days, and even if we were keeping it forever, I doubt it would be able to do anything other than cry and pee."

"I guess you're right," Keith sighed, trying to look more optimistic. "It doesn't really make a difference. So, what should we name her?"

As the doll stopped fussing, she set it back in the carrier, sat down on a rock next to his and said, "Is it cool if her middle name is Blair? I like that name."

"Sure, why not?" Keith shrugged.

Marilee smiled and told him, "For her first name, I was thinking Jacqueline. Because that way, we could call her Jackie for short. That's sort of like Jack, right?"

Keith looked up at her and smiled. "You'd really do that for me?"

"Sure," Marilee admitted, shrugging. "You seemed to have your heart set on the name… And besides, I'm a big fan of That 70's Show…"

* * *

"Wow, Marilee's been really nice to me today, ever since we got partnered up for this baby thing," Keith mused, looking around shiftily. "It's kind of creepy."

* * *

"I guess you've noticed the sudden change in attitude from me," Marilee mumbled. "Well, you're good at observing stuff. I know this is going to sound really silly, but…" She looked down at her lap. "I guess I just don't want Keith and me to be like my parents were, always fighting and stuff. I know the baby can't actually be sad about it like I was, but replaying it wouldn't feel good at all… So if Keith's willing to be flexible, so am I."

* * *

*T*S*R*

"Anything coming to you?"

"Nothing."

Gwen sighed as she squeezed the beach sand that they were sitting on. Neither of them could think of a good name for the baby.

"Does it look like anyone you know?" Gwen asked, looking down at the simulator.

Trent took a look, too. "Yeah… the Baby Burps-a-Lot doll my mom got Grace for Christmas last year."

Gwen frowned. "We're not calling this thing 'Burps-a-Lot' for the next three days." She rested her head in her hands. "This shouldn't be so hard! We should just name it and get it over with!"

Trent patted her on the back soothingly and tried to make her feel better by saying, "You just want to pick the right name, that's all. It just shows how good of a mother you'll be when the time actually comes." He jerked away and awkwardly rubbed his neck. "Not that I'm saying that _I'll _be the father or anything. I mean, I could be, if you wanted me to, but-"

Before he could say anything else stupid and embarrassing, Gwen slapped a hand over his mouth to shut him up. "I get the idea, Trent." She lightly laughed and looked down at the baby. "Okay, name time. Um…" she looked back up at Trent. "What's your dad's name again?"

"Vincent. But Gwen, you don't have to name it after-"

"It's not like we've come up with any better ideas," Gwen pointed out, a playful smile on her face.

Trent smiled back. "Okay, but his middle name's going to be your dad's. What was it?"

Gwen frowned at the mention of her father, but answered, "Gabriel."

Trent noticed the saddened expression on Gwen's face. He probably shouldn't have brought it up, since he knew that his death still hurt her after all theses years. "Vincent Gabriel…" He shook his head. "Nah, I don't like how that flows." Truthfully, he thought it flowed just fine, but he wanted to make Gwen feel better. "Do you like Gabriel Vincent better?"

Gwen looked up at him and managed a small smile. She knew what he was trying to do. She didn't thank him out loud, but from the look in her eyes, he could tell she was thinking it. "Can we call him Gabe?"

Trent nodded. "Sure. I've always liked that name."

The Goth girl smiled. "Gabe, it is."

*T*S*R*

Duncan and Courtney sat down in the mess hall, setting the baby in the carrier on the table. "What do you want to name her?" Courtney asked her boyfriend as she looked up from the baby simulator to Duncan.

"Stupid," Duncan suggested, rolling his eyes and propping his chin in his hand. "Because that's what it is."

"Duncan, will you please take this seriously?" Courtney fumed.

"How am I supposed to take playing with dolls seriously?" Duncan asked, throwing his hands in the air angrily.

"We're not playing!" Courtney yelled, making the baby cry. "Oh, now look what you did!" She stood up, picked the doll up and lightly rocked it, trying to get it to calm down.

"What _I_ did?" Duncan stood up, too, and glared at her. "You're the one shrieking like a banshee over there!"

This only made the simulator cry louder. "Duncan, please stop yelling," Courtney begged, comforting the baby even more. "Look, this isn't supposed to be another goofy challenge. This is real, this is what's going to happen one day when we're married!"

Duncan was silenced by that last comment and just stared at her with a blank expression on his face. Courtney blanched, realizing what she just said. The only sound was of the baby's now quieter crying. "Did… Did you just say-"

"No, no! I didn't mean it like that!" Courtney half yelled. "I just meant… Haven't you ever even _considered _the possibility that we could get married someday?"

He looked down at his feet and kicked a balled up napkin that had been carelessly tossed down there during breakfast. "Yeah, I guess… Have you?"

"Well…" She blushed and mumbled, "Yes. But, you know, we're pretty young, so I know it's not like set in stone or anything."

"Yeah…" Duncan looked back up at her. "But you're right. It _is_ a possibility, so I guess we should just try to get a grip on this parenting crap in case it ever does happen." He looked back at the baby and asked, "Do you have any name ideas?"

Courtney looked down at the simulator, then back up at Duncan. "How about Michelle Jennifer?"

Duncan shrugged. "Better than anything I could come up with."

*T*S*R*

"Can we name him Malik? Pretty please, Big O?" Izzy begged, clinging onto Owen like her very life depended on it.

"Actually, the name's starting to grow on me," Owen mused, wrapping an arm around Izzy with one arm and cradling the baby simulator in the other. "So he is hereby named Malik!"

"Booyah!" Izzy smothered her boyfriend and new 'husband' with kisses, and then the baby. "Whoa, Malik tastes like plastic… I must have some squeaky toy genes in me, to balance out the Cherokee genes…"

Owen didn't seem fazed by the weird comment. "Can I pick the middle name?"

"Of course!" Izzy pried herself off of Owen and grabbed the baby, making it do a little dance. Somehow, the extra motion didn't make the doll cry. It must have been a doll that liked to dance.

"Is Jonathan okay with you?" he asked.

"Sure, but why Jonathan?"

Owen shrugged. "I dunno. With a name like 'Malik' and parents like us, don't you think he deserves something a _little_ normal?"

Izzy cradled Malik in one arm and used her free hand to tap her chin in thought. "I guess you've got a point there…"

*T*S*R*

"Do you like the name Kylie Brooke?" Candace asked.

"Sure," Geoff agreed, nodding.

* * *

"What?" Chris asked the viewing audience, knowing they were probably confused by how short the scene was. "Were you expecting them to go on and on about their baby's name, too? C'mon, they're two of the most agreeable people on the island!"

* * *

*T*S*R*

"Do you like the name Tyson?" LeShawna asked as they walked toward the Wolves cabin.

"Um…" Cody hated to disagree, but he had to. "Not really."

"Why not?"

"It reminds me of Tyson chicken… And I hate that stuff…" He guiltily looked down and added, "But if you like it, I could always call him Ty."

LeShawna looked down at the baby and smiled. "Ty… I like it."

"Can his middle name be Luke?"

LeShawna's eyes narrowed. "It's not because you want to name him after Luke Skywalker, is it?"

"No, of course not!"

"Well… Okay then."

* * *

Cody guiltily sniggered. "It's totally because I want to name him after Luke Skywalker…"

* * *

"Where are we going?" Cody asked as they made their way to the door leading to the female Wolves' cabin.

"I'm going to check on Jovie, see if she needs anything," LeShawna explained, hand on the knob. "You'd better stay out here. I don't think she'd want anybody seeing her like this who already hasn't."

"Okay, perfectly understandable…" Cody nervously looked down at the baby LeShawna was carrying and she quickly noticed.

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "Don't worry, I'll keep our baby boy for now. I'm sure Jovie will be excited to meet her lil' white nephew." She laughed before opening the door and quietly stepping in. She closed the door behind her and looked at Jovie's bunk.

Her bed was covered in balled-up tissues, but she was sleeping peacefully as could be.

"Aww, ain't that just the cutest thing?" LeShawna whispered.

Jovie let out a huge, stuffed-up snore, then grunted and rolled around so her back was turned to LeShawna.

LeShawna did not look impressed. "Well, it _was_."

Cody, still outside and standing so LeShawna couldn't see him, yelled, "Hey, did you girls notice this big hole in your window?"

*T*S*R*

"I wanna name her London after the girl on the Suite Life of On Deck!" Zoey screamed in Xavier's face.

"And I wanna name her Alejandra after my great step-grandma, who wrestled Chihuahuas with her bare hands!" Xavier screamed in her face, looking just as angry.

"London!"

"Alejandra!"

"London!"

"Alejandra!"

"London!"

"Alejandra!"

"LONDON!"

"ALEJANDRA!"

"LON- Wait!" Zoey held her hands up, signaling for him to stop. "How about London Alejandra?"

Xavier's face lit up and he yelled, "Hooray for compromise!"

"Yeah!" Zoey hugged him and, mispronouncing what he just said, yelled, "Hooray for cobble fries! … Whatever those are!"

*T*S*R*

"Can we name him Nick?"

"No."

"Joe?"

"No."

"… Kev-"

"No!"

"You don't even know what I'm going to say!" Selena whined, stomping on the floor of the Bears cabin's patio.

"Yes, I do!" Zack told her, glaring at her. "I don't care if he isn't real, I'm not naming my son after a Jonas Brother!"

"Fine," Selena sighed, sitting down on the steps. "How about-"

"And we're not naming him after Taylor Lautner, Robert Pattinson, Dylan or Cole Sprouse, or Mitchel Musso."

Selena pouted. "Double fine, Mister No Fun. We could name him after you."

"Zack Junior?" Zack sat down with her and cocked an eyebrow. "That sounds kind of egotistical. Like, 'I'm so hacking great, my son should have the same identity as me' or something like that."

"But you're a good guy, Zack," Selena purred, wrapped her arms around him seductively. "You deserve to have something named after you, especially something that looks like a baby…"

Zack tensed up and instinctively looked around for Duncan, but he was nowhere in sight, so he relaxed and set the baby back in it's carrier, wrapping his arms around her, too. "Well… If that's what you really want…"

"And your legacy will live on for the next three days through that doll…" Selena moaned, snuggling into his chest.

"Yeah…" Zack sighed, hypnotized by her touch.

"And we can spell his name without the K, to avoid confusion between you two," she whispered, breathing heavily from being all hot and bothered.

Before she could do anything else, he realized something and said, "Wait a minute… I see what you're trying to do here!" She stopped, tensing up a little. "Nice try, sister! I'm not letting you name the baby after Zac Efron, either!"

She scooted as far away from him on the steps as possible. "Triple fine," she mumbled, pouting harder than she ever pouted before.

There was a long, angry silence, until Zack gave her an apologetic glance and suggested, "Daniel Isaac?"

Selena gave him a small smile. "Danny for short?"

He grinned. "Danny for short."

* * *

MEGAN FOX HAS WEIRD EYEBROWS. ADMIT IT.

Aww, poor Jovie is sick… :C I had to make the numbers even… And besides, I kind of have a cold myself, so I can relate…

The hat and whiskey myth actually exists. I didn't just pull that out of my butt. If you don't believe me… http :// www. grandpa pencil . net

And a Benelli is an Italian firearm. Just typed 'Ben' into the Google thing to find something and let the suggestions do the work for me... I figured that one was the most Izzy-esque.

I'll start calling the dolls 'him' and 'her' next chapter instead of 'it,' mainly because it will cause less confusion for me. And you guys don't want me to be confused, now do you?

Random guy: Yes!

Shut up!

Here's a baby cheat sheet, if you get confused. Cuz I did…:

DJ and Heather: Estelle Jeanette (Essie)

Herbie and Grace: Benjamin James (Ben)

Keith and Marilee: Jacqueline Blair (Jackie)

Trent and Gwen: Gabriel Vincent (Gabe)

Duncan and Courtney: Michelle Jennifer

Owen and Izzy: Malik Jonathan

Geoff and Candace: Kylie Brooke

Cody and LeShawna: Tyson Luke (Ty)

Xavier and Zoey: London Alejandra

Zack and Selena: Daniel Isaac (Danny)

I know most of the first and middle names don't really go together. I tried my best!


	23. Day 9: The Crying Game

Wewt. :D

Did you all notice the changes I made to the chapter titles? I decided to do it TDC style :3

Oh, and heads up; I might not post the next chappie for a while. Because Deviantart's first ever TDI Fanon/Crack Week is coming up, and I'm helping out! :D

Not much to say about this chapter, since it's pretty self explanatory. Just read, review and enjoy! :3

* * *

The first night was hard for the campers. At least it was for the girls. Since Chris wouldn't allow the male campers to sleep over with the female campers no matter what, the girls had to fend for themselves with the simulators. And they were **loud**.

Next morning at breakfast, the girls all dragged their baby carriers in, looking like absolute wrecks.

Gwen's hair was not even combed and her clothes were all wrinkled and messy. She gently set Gabe's carrier down and not so gently slammed her breakfast tray down on the table next to Trent. Her face was in a scowl.

"Good morning, Gwen," Trent greeted, trying to cheer her up. "You look… uh… pretty today."

"Sit on it, Mr. Sunshine," Gwen muttered, stuffing a spoonful of soggy eggs into her mouth. "Gabe kept me up all night with his crying."

"I'm sorry," Trent apologized, looking down at the doll. He was being very quiet now… Chris must have tampered with them to make sure they cried all night long. "But at least you'll get a break tonight when the guys take care of them."

"Yeah…" Gwen smiled at the thought. "Good luck tonight, Daddy Trent. You're going to need it…"

Selena plopped down at the table next to Owen, setting Danny's carrier up on the table top. Her face was covered in an unknown liquid. Owen wiped a bit of it off with his finger. "What's this stuff all over your face?" He stuck the finger in his mouth to try to identify it.

"I just changed Danny," Selena explained, wiping away her morning eye crud so she could see better. "That's his pee."

Owen didn't react much. He just pulled the finger out of his mouth, smacked his lips a few times and shrugged. "Hmm. I always thought pee would taste worse than this."

'I think it's just water," Selena mused, smacking her lips. "At least it tastes kind of like it."

* * *

"Well, Duncan will probably be happy about what this challenge has done to me," Selena sleepily said, rubbing her baggy eyes. "After last night with Danny, I'm staying a virgin until my baby factory shuts down…"

* * *

LeShawna rubbed her eyes and sighed. "These babies wouldn't shut up once! Poor Jovie couldn't even get any sleep last night."

"Oh, boo freaking hoo," Marilee growled, gently cradling Jackie and stuffing a bottle in her mouth. "At least Jovie got to lie down. The rest of us had to stay up and cater to the needs of these little demons…" She looked over to Izzy, who didn't look that tired. "Except for you and Malik. How'd you keep him so quiet? And how'd you sleep with the other babies wailing all night?"

"Well, it's no wonder they were so fussy!" Izzy yanked the bottle out of Jackie's mouth, which made her cry. "Babies hate bottled milk!"

"Izzy!" Marilee yanked the bottle out of her hand and started feeding Jackie again.

"Well, they do!" Izzy picked up Malik and shoved him in the blonde's face. "Malik was so quiet because I breastfed him, like any good mother would!"

"Izzy, these things can't respond to… _your _milk." Marilee cocked an eyebrow. "They only know they're being fed when we use these special bottles."

"And yet, who's the one with the quiet baby, huh?" Izzy grinned triumphantly. "And sleeping through your kids' screaming was easy. When I was at war, nighttime was always loud. You learn to drown stuff like that out eventually…"

"What war?" DJ asked.

Izzy's expression got more serious. "A war you can't prove that I started…"

* * *

"Okay, Izzy has got to be the craziest nut cake I've ever met," Marilee muttered, smoothing her messy hair out with one hand as she rocked a crying Jackie in her free arm. "But somehow, her boobs made her kid shut up…" She shiftily looked at the camera, then Jackie, then her chest. She lifted Jackie up and started pulling her tube top down. She realized the camera was still running and screamed, "What? I'm desperate here!"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Courtney sat down by the lake shore, setting the carrier down next to her. "Do you want to hold her, Duncan?"

Duncan sat on the other side of the carrier, looking back down at Michelle. "I don't think so. We need to win and killing our baby wouldn't help our chances."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "You won't kill her just by making contact with her. And besides, I don't think these simulators can actually die. What, you never held Zoey when she was a baby?"

Duncan shrugged. "Yeah, but almost every time I did, she barfed on me."

The brunette giggled and muttered, "Maybe if you ever showered, that wouldn't have been a problem…"

Duncan cocked his unibrow and smirked. "Oh, so Princess has a sense of humor now?" He rolled his eyes and sighed, "Fine, I'll hold her. But if she's dead by the time I set her back down, I'm blaming you."

He gingerly picked his 'daughter' up and looked down at her. He was expecting her to cry or puke or explode. She didn't do any of those things. Instead, she let out a small giggling noise.

"Aww," Courtney cooed, clasping her hands together. "See, Duncan, she _does_ like you!"

"Huh." Duncan grinned and looked back up at his girlfriend. "Maybe we have a chance at winning this, after all."

Farther away, but close enough to see Duncan and Courtney, Selena and Zack were walking on the line that separated the grassy land from the sand, Zack holding Danny's carrier. Both 'parents' were laughing.

"And that yoga teacher has never been the same ever since!" Selena giggled.

"Whoa, I didn't even know it was legal to do that!" Zack exclaimed, scratching his head.

"I suppose it is, or I would be in jail right now, wouldn't I?" Glancing to the side, she finally noticed Duncan and Courtney, who were laughing happily, like a real married couple.

Selena glared at the oblivious couple, then realized something and gasped.

* * *

"I can't believe it! They might actually make it through this challenge!" Selena fumed. "Do you realize what could happen if they win this? They'll think they're actually a good couple and want to stay together! Like, forever! I will NOT stand for that!" She pounded a fist in her palm and continued, "Duncan and Slutney will win over my dead body!"

* * *

"Um…" Selena looked from them back to Zack and her 'son.' She twiddled her thumbs and guiltily looked around. "Yeah… I'll be right back. Watch Danny for me? 'kay, thanks!"

She raced off, leaving poor Zack dazed and confused. "Wait, Selena!" He looked back down at the baby, frightened. "I wish you came with an instruction manual…"

*T*S*R*

"Heeeey, guuuuuuys," Selena drawled, slowly meandering toward the two.

Courtney's eyes narrowed. "Don't you have a kid to take care of?"

"Zack's taking care of Danny," Selena explained, jerking a thumb to the two. Or at least where they used to be, since neither were in sight, anymore. "But, uh… I just wanted to see my 'niece', so…" She held her hands out to Duncan, who was still had Michelle. "Can I hold her?"

Duncan looked from the baby, to Courtney and back up at his sister. He shrugged. "Sure, whatever." He lifted her up into her arms.

"Aww, how cute!" Selena cooed, trying to look convincing. She made weird baby noises at Michelle for a while, until she 'accidentally' dropped her. Even though it didn't look like much of an accident at all.

Luckily, since Duncan was still sitting down, he was able to easily catch her. "Watch it!" He glared at her and said, "You could have lost this for us!"

"Don't blame me!" Selena crossed her arms and eyed him. "You know how clumsy I can be." She looked at Courtney, and not with hatred, for once. "How irresponsible of him, knowing that something like that could have happened!"

Courtney cocked an eyebrow, but nodded. "Yeah… It really was!" She reached over and slapped him in the back of the head. "How could you be so stupid?"

"What, how was I supposed to know Butterfingers over here was going to drop her?" Duncan screamed, jabbing a finger in Selena's direction, who was looking completely innocent.

As they continued to bicker, poor Michelle started to cry. Her cries fell upon deaf ears, for Duncan and Courtney were too busy fighting to console her.

Selena smiled and waved. "Well, I can see you two are busy. Bye now!" She giddily skipped off toward the cabins to find Zack.

* * *

Selena giggled uncontrollably, then sighed and wiped a tear away. "Oh, ho ho! That kind of gave me an adrenaline rush… No wonder Grace does it so much with Gwen and Trent!"

* * *

*T*S*R*

"So…" Geoff looked down at the baby simulator in Candace's arms and asked, "What do we do now?"

Candace shrugged. "Just play with her, I guess."

He scratched his head and blinked. "How do we play with a fake baby?"

She shrugged again. "You know as well as I do…"

Geoff rifled through the bag Chris had given them and pulled out a baby rattle. "I guess we could use this…" He started shaking it in front of her face, which made her laugh. "Hey, it's working!" he cheered, shaking it even harder. Eventually, the top of the rattle popped off and landed in the stream they were sitting by.

Candace and Geoff exchanged a glance. She giggled and said, "Well, that was fun while it lasted…"

*T*S*R*

"Make her stop!" Keith whined, clamping his hands over his ears.

Jackie was wailing at the top of her lungs and Marilee was rocking her, desperately trying to make her stop. "What does it look like I'm trying to do?"

"How are we gonna get her to shut up?" He dug through her diaper bag and pulled out a bottle. "Maybe this will calm her down. Head's up!"

Keith tossed the bottle to her, which hit her square in the nose. "Ow!" Marilee wrinkled her nose in pain and glared at him. "With what hand was I supposed to catch that with?"

Before Keith could answer, Jackie started giggling. "Hey, she stopped crying!"

As she shifted her fake daughter to one arm so she could rub her sore nose, Marilee looked down at Jackie and grinned. "You're right!" She looked back up at him. "We need to keep her this way. Throw something else at me!"

Keith blinked, looking nervous. "But… I don't want to."

"Do it! Do you want to go through _that _again?"

"No, but… Didn't that hurt?"

"Yeah… but so do eyebrow waxes, but I put up with those…" Marilee shut her eyes, bracing for the pain. "I'm giving you full permission to pelt me with whatever you want. Take advantage of it."

"Uh… okay… If you say so." He pulled a small pacifier out of the bag and weakly flung it at her. It hit her square on the forehead, but she didn't even flinch.

Marilee bent down and picked up the pacifier. Looking back up at him, she scoffed. "A pacifier? Seriously? That couldn't even make a fake baby laugh!" She harshly tossed it back at him and said, "C'mon, I know there's heavier stuff in there! Lay it on me!"

Keith threw the pacifier aside, yanked out a giant plastic toy from the bag and looked at her, unsure. "Are… Do you really want me to…"

"Now!"

Keith got in a throwing stance and reared his arm back to throw it at her.

* * *

Marilee, with a big bruise on her cheek, sighed. "At least that got a good laugh from Jackie. Hey, Keith?"

"_Yeah?_"A voice from outside asked.

"Is she still laughing?"

A giggle from outside answered her question.

"Okay, good…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Zack, Danny in his arms, raced toward Selena, who was hiding behind a stump and spying on someone with a pair of binoculars. "Selena, I think Danny just said 'Dada!' I had no idea these things could learn to talk!"

"Yeah, that's great, shut up," Selena quickly muttered, not budging from her spying position.

Zack cocked an eyebrow. Selena usually would have been ecstatic. What had gotten into her? "Who are you looking at?" He snatched the binoculars from her and took a peek. All he saw was Duncan and Courtney, fighting about something. "What, are you taking notes for your latest fanfic or something?" he asked, smirking.

She pouted and took her binoculars back. "You can't write fan fiction about real people, Mr. Smarty Pants. I don't know what was thinking, putting _Total Drama Island _under the Cartoon section…" She waved the thought off and continued, "Anyway, I'm just making sure Duncan and Courtney stay miserable so they'll hate each other's guts and never want to get married ever."

Zack's expression look worried. "Aren't you being kind of… childish about Duncan and Courtney's relationship? I mean, you're kind of starting to sound like Grace…"

"No, I'm not! Unlike Grace, I actually have _good_ reasons for not liking my brother's girlfriend."

"And those reasons would be…?"

Selena was silent. "Uh… Well… Just go online. A ton of people will give you a big, fat list that I'm too busy to make…" With that, she went back to spying on them.

"Maybe you should give the girl a break. She never really did much to you…. What'd you do to make them fight so much, anyway?"

Selena looked back at him, genuinely confused, and shrugged. "Actually, I didn't really do anything. They started fighting all by themselves. I'm just enjoying the show…"

*T*S*R*

"I'm not letting her go out looking like that!" Duncan screamed, violently grabbing the baby from Courtney, making her cry, but not loudly enough for the couple to notice.

"But it looks so cute on her!" Courtney whined, reaching over to smooth out the wrinkles in the teeny pink t-shirt Courtney had put on Michelle, since it had crept up over her belly button.

"It's too tight!" Duncan fumed, trying to keep the doll away from her. "No daughter of mine's going to dress like a tramp!"

Courtney gaped at him, then screamed, "SHE'S A _DOLL_! What do you think's going to happen? It's not like she'll be molested or anything!"

"That's what the molesters want you to think!"

*T*S*R*

As little Ben continued to cry, Grace started crying, too. "Oh, why won't this stupid stupidhead just stop?"

Herbie sweetly patted her on the back and said, "It's okay… Maybe he'll be done soon!"

"I kinda remember what being a baby was like…" Grace continued to cry. "Trust me, he won't be done for a long time!"

*T*S*R*

Heather sat down on a stump by the campfire pit and rubbed her eyes, looking absolutely exhausted. Essie was quiet as she rested in the carrier by her mother's feet. It was the first time she had been quiet in a while.

"This is much harder than I thought it would be," she admitted, rubbing her aching temples. "But I should have known that this wouldn't be a walk through the park, since Chris thought it up."

DJ sat down on the stump next to her and patted her on the back. "Don't worry… I think it gets easier. You know… after the first couple of weeks."

"But, let me guess, the first few days are a living hell, right?"

"… That's what I've heard," he admitted.

Heather pinched the skin between her forehead and DJ tried to make her feel better by suggesting, "How about I get us some coffee? You look like you could use a cup of joe."

"Oh, you don't have to do that, Deej," Heather said, trying to stifle a yawn.

"Trust me, I do." He laughed and added, "No offense, but you look like you're going to drop dead any second."

Heather couldn't help but laugh at that as grinned at him gratefully as he got up to get them some coffee from the mess hall.

*T*S*R*

"I never thought I'd say this," Jovie mused to herself as she stared at the bottom of the bunk above her, "but I miss participating in those crazy challenges. At least it gave me something to do."

She rolled over and looked out the huge hole in the window. "How has Izzy not killed herself after crashing through so many things?" After she didn't get an answer, she sighed and rolled onto her back once again.

Jovie sighed again and reached for another tissue. She had nothing better to do than get the mucous out of her clogged up nose.

*T*S*R*

Trent, who was sitting at the Killer Bears lunch table, was trying to eat a ham sandwich with one hand and soothe a softly crying Gabe with the free arm. It was pretty difficult, and condiments kept falling out of the sammie and onto his plate. Grace, with a similar sandwich on her plate, sat down next to Trent. He looked down at her, then over to Herbie at the other table. Neither of them had the baby. "Grace… Where's Ben?"

Grace nibbled on her sandwich and, not even looking at him, she admitted, "I threw him off the big cliff. Herbie didn't try to stop me."

Instead of scolding her for costing them a point, Trent looked at Gabe tiredly, then back at his sister. "Lucky."

"Where's Gwen?" she asked, pulling a long, black hair out of her sandwich.

"She went to the washroom…" He set his lunch down and scratched his head in thought. "Now that you mention it, she's been in there for a while…"

"Maybe she's hiding from the baby," Grace suggested in a kidding manner.

Trent perked up, realizing that that could very well be true. His brows furrowed and he grumbled, "Why, that conniving little bit-"

He stopped himself and looked down, seeing that Grace was eagerly listening. "What, Trent?"

"Uh…" He couldn't think of a word to replace his swear, so he merely muttered, "Uh… I'm gonna go find her," and walked off.

Grace watched him walk off, then shrugged and slide the rest of his sandwich onto her plate.

* * *

"Now, you guys know me pretty well," Grace commented, yawning a little. "And you know that normally, I would have taken that opportunity to do something diabolical…" She yawned again and rubbed her eyes. "But that dumb old baby made me so sleepy, they could have gone off to get _married_ for all I care!"

* * *

Cody decided to join LeShawna at the Rabid Wolves table so he could help her with Ty. He sat her tray in front of her, taking a seat.

"Thanks for carrying that for me, Cody." LeShawna sat Ty's carrier down by their feet and took a sip of her water. "You've been a big help, but you really should at least _touch_ the baby."

Cody sat his tray down and embarrassedly admitted, "I don't want to kill him."

Duncan, who was passing by them with Courtney, nudged her and said, "See, I wasn't the only one who thought that!"

Courtney nudged him back with the arm that wasn't holding Michelle. "You're lucky I'm still even talking to you, after you accused me of turning our _fake_ daughter into a whore..."

*T*S*R*

Geoff and Candace sat down by the cabins, Kylie nestled between them in her carrier. Geoff had somehow managed to score a cowboy hat just like his, only smaller, and had put it on his pretend daughter. "Oh, Geoff, that hat is so cute!"

"Thanks, bra," Geoff said, adjusting his own hat proudly. "I bought it off of this Texan guy at a party I threw once."

Candace giggled and lightly slapped his arm. "I meant the hat you got for Kylie!"

"Oh." Geoff slumped. "I just made that one in the Arts and Crafts tent one day when I was bored." He frowned and whimpered, "So you don't think _my_ hat is cute?"

Candace sheepishly smiled and blushed. "Well, I never said that… In fact, it looks great on you!"

He perked up. "Really? Thanks!"

"But, actually… I think it would look even cuter… on me!" She snatched his hat right off his head, placed it on her own and got up, running off and laughing like crazy.

Geoff smiled, nonetheless. "Hey, get back here!" He picked Kylie up and ran after her.

*T*S*R*

Trent stormed into the communal washrooms, looking around for Gwen. He found her on the floor, by the sink, sleeping like a log. "Gwen?"

He bent down and shook her lightly with his free hand. She bolted upright and frantically looked around. "Wha? What happened?" She realized that she was in the bathroom. "Did I fall asleep?"

Trent looked up, seeing that the sink was still running. "You fell asleep while washing your hands?"

She groggily stood up, using the counter to support herself. "I dunno. I turned the water on, shut my eyes for three seconds and the next thing I knew, I woke up on the floor… The sink water was soothing… like a waterfall."

Trent looked down at Gabe. "Wow, this kid must be a handful, huh?"

"You have no idea," Gwen grumbled. "I made it over fifty hours through the Awakeathon without sleep and Gabe has me out like a light in only twelve."

Trent couldn't help but smile sheepishly. "I guess I haven't been _that _much help, either. I'll make it up to you tonight, I promise. I'll be Super Dad, while you get some well-earned sleep."

Gwen smiled and hugged him. "You're the greatest, Trent." She gave him a quick peck on the lips, but went back in for a longer one. Trent cradled Gabe away from them slightly and wrapped his other arm around her waist.

As things continued to heat up, a voice cheered, "Oh, yeah!"

The couple separated and looked around. "Was that _Izzy_?" Gwen asked.

"I think so," Trent muttered. "Izzy?"

"C'mon, Trent! Don't stop now, buddy!"

"Izzy!" Gwen fumed, looking around for her. "Get out!"

After a few seconds of silence, a pouting Izzy walked out of one of the shower stalls, dragging Owen and Malik behind her.

Before they were out the door, Owen whispered, "I think I saw some tongue!"

*T*S*R*

"-and this one time, at computer camp, I put my flash drive up my-"

"Cody, don't get offended by this," LeShawna interrupted, holding a hand up. "But you really need to get a girlfriend."

He sighed and looked down at his feet. "I know…"

DJ passed by them, two mugs of coffee in his hands. LeShawna cocked an eyebrow. "Getting coffee for your witch of a wife, DJ?"

DJ looked down at her and frowned. "Would you stop that, LeShawna? She's changed, really."

She scoffed and replied, "You don't know that for sure."

"I do, too. I can tell when someone's lying, and she's not. She really just want everybody's forgiveness." He started walking off and added, "I already have… Maybe you should, too."

LeShawna grimaced and stabbed her sandwich with a fork. "I can't believe she has him falling for her lies! How dare she try to manipulate that sweet boy."

"I don't know, LeShawna… I think Heather really has changed," Cody mused.

"She's got you fooled, too?" LeShawna growled.

"No, really!" Cody said, trying to get her to calm down. "Do you think that the old Heather would have been able to keep this niceness thing going for this long?"

"Just shut up and eat your crappy sandwich," LeShawna muttered as she continued to stab her sandwich with a fork.

* * *

"Did those two fools not see how awful she was last season?" LeShawna asked. "People like that just don't _change_. They just don't!" LeShawna pounded her fist in her palm and said, "I swear, if she hurts anyone else this time around, she's a dead girl!"

* * *

*T*S*R*

It was officially nighttime. The girls were getting some well-deserved shut eye. The guys? Not so much.

"Gah!" Zac clamped his hands over his ears as Danny was laying in his lap, crying his head off. "What's wrong with these things? Why are they crying so much?"

"They're babies, Einstein," Duncan yelled over Michelle's screams. "_All_ they do is cry and crap their pants!"

"Speaking of which," Cody added, holding a hand over his nose. "What's that awful smell?"

Everybody turned their attention to Owen, who looked around, like he thought they were looking at someone behind him. Except there was nobody behind him. "What? It wasn't me this time! Chef didn't serve beans with lunch for once!" He sniffed around, until he found the source of the stench coming from around Trent. "I think it was Trent."

"What? No, it wasn't!" he argued.

"Maybe it's your kid, then," Owen suggested, pointing to the wailing doll in Trent's arms. "He could need to be changed."

Trent looked down at Gabe. "How could that be possible? I thought they could only pee. Do they have those kinds of bodily functions?"

"Only one way to find out, man," Duncan said, shrugging. "Sucks to be you if they do, though."

Trent laughed as he walked over to his bed. "C'mon, guys. Like Chris would spare the extra cash to buy simulators that can do that." He laid Gabe down and started peeling away the tabs of his diaper. "There's no way these things can actually poop." He unfolded the flaps, looked down at the 'contents' of the diaper and screamed. He couldn't faint in time before the pungent scent entered his nostrils.

The other boys gathered around him and noticed his horrified expression.

Staring blankly into space, he whispered, "I was wrong. I was horribly wrong."

*T*S*R*

"Ugh," Courtney grunted, falling face first into her pillow. "I can't wait to get some sleep."

"You and me both, sister," Heather grumbled, slipping under the covers.

"I doubt we'll be able to, though," Candace laughed, pointing to the wall that the boys were on the other side of. "With the boys' frantic babysitting and all." She took off Geoff's hat and sat it on the floor by her bed. She was too sleepy to return it.

"_Ah, somebody get me some rubber gloves or something!" _a voice that sounded an awful lot like Trent's yelled from the other side.

Gwen looked down at Selena, who was snuggled up in the bunk under hers. "Think they found out those dolls can poop yet?"

"They can?" Selena asked, scratching her head. "Oh, I didn't know. Zack's been taking care of Danny for most of today…"

Gwen arched an eyebrow. "Then what have you been doing all day?"

"Uh…" She didn't want to admit her plans with Courtney in the room, so Selena looked down at her lap, then quickly slammed down face first into her pillow and started fake-snoring.

* * *

"Do you think Selena is using Zack to get an easy win on this challenge?" Gwen asked, looking skeptical. "I mean, he is a little easy to manipulate, but I just didn't think Selena was that kind of girl." She crossed her arms and angrily said, "She'd better start helping my brother out more, or she and I are going to have a problem."

* * *

Gwen jumped down from her bunk and walked over to Courtney's. By that time, Selena had gone to sleep for real, along with the other girls. "Hey, have you see Selena doing anything weird today?"

"_Ack, gross! It got on my hands!" _Trent yelled once again.

Courtney sat up and said, "Not really." She tapped her chin and pointed out, "Well, she almost dropped Michelle on her head, if that counts. But that was Duncan's fault."

"How is that Duncan's fault?"

"He shouldn't have let that klutz hold her in the first place!"

Gwen put her hands on her hips. "Wait a minute. Selena isn't exactly your number one fan, right?"

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Thanks for reminding me."

"No, seriously!" She sat down on the bed next to her. "Are you sure that it really was an accident?"

"Positive." Courtney laid down and rolled on her back. "Selena might be a brat when it comes to me and Duncan, but she wouldn't sabotage her own teammates just to try and annoy me." She closed her eyes and Gwen sighed, making her way back over back to her bunk.

"_Holy crap, it buuuurns!" _Trent whined.

_

* * *

_

"Courtney might not believe me, but I'm sure Zack will," Gwen pondered. "I need to have a talk with him tomorrow." She crossed her arms and her eyes narrowed angrily. "If Selena doesn't start helping Zack out more, she can say goodbye to this place for good."

_

* * *

_

*T*S*R*

"C'mon, Essie, please stop!" DJ sobbed, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"DJ, calm down, man!" Geoff screamed over their babies' crying. He still didn't have his hat back. "I mean, they've got to stop eventually, right?"

"I don't think they will!" Xavier whined, rocking London carefully. "I've tried everything to get her to stop crying! Knock-knock jokes, funny faces… I've even said the word 'booger' a million times! This baby has no sense of humor!"

Keith was rocking back and forth, one arm cradling Jackie and the other arm stuffed between his legs. "I can't hold it anymore! I need a bathroom break!" He waddled over to Geoff and handed her to him. "Take your niece while I take care of some urgent business, okay?"

He ran out of the cabin before Geoff could argue. And he definitely tried to. "Wait, you can't leave me with _two _kids! I can barely handle _one_!" He sighed and tiredly looked down at the two crying girls. He glanced over at the sleeping lump in the bunk next to him. "Hey, Herbie, stop sleeping and give me a hand here!"

No response. Not even a squirm.

"Herbie?" He laid Kylie down and yanked his covers off. It wasn't Herbie. It was Fluffernutter. "What the… Wasn't this Zack's wolf phobia thing?"

DJ and Xavier walked over. "I think so," DJ muttered. "She probably wandered in here by accident. Maybe we should return her to Chris."

"No!" Xavier tossed London on his bed, which, by some miracle, made her stop crying. He hugged the pup and clung onto her for dear life. "Chris would be mean to her and make her clip his toenails and stuff! We should set her free!"

Geoff and DJ exchanged a glance and the babies all got surprisingly quiet. The latter shrugged. "He's got a point… Well, except for the toenail thing. No idea where he got that from."

"Yeah…" Geoff patted Xavier on the back and said, "Set her free, man."

"Yay!" He grabbed Fluffernutter and tossed her out the open window. "Be free, puppy!"

"Ah!" Geoff and DJ bolted over to the window. "She's not a bird, little dude!"

Taking a peek outside, the Jamaican-Canadian boy sighed in relief and said, "No worries, bro. She's okay. She's running off now."

They watched as Fluffernutter scampered off. "So…" Geoff scratched his head. "What happened to Herbie, then?"

*T*S*R*

"Fluffernutter!" Grace yelled as she waved a flashlight around, looking for her and Zoey's wolf puppy. "Where are you?" Grace had woken up to go to the bathroom, only to see that Fluffernutter was not under her bed like she had been before. She had to find her before anyone else, especially Chris, did.

She walked over to the shore and shined her flashlight around some more. She didn't see the wolf, but she did see somebody else. "Herbie?" She zipped her little jacket up farther, completely covering the Hannah Montana logo on her nightshirt, and wandered over to him. "What the heck are you doing?"

He popped up out of the lake, decked out in his swim trunks and snorkel gear. Removing the snorkel and goggles, he answered, "I'm trying to find Ben!"

"Why? He was annoying!"

"Yeah, but I feel bad 'bout letting my team down," Herbie admitted, looking down sadly.

Grace shrugged. "I don't."

"So, what are you doing out here?" Herbie asked, wading out of the water and onto shore once again.

"Uh… Just taking a walk!" Grace lied.

Before they could add anything, Chris, wearing his Child Protection Services cap and shining his own flashlight in their direction, walked over to the two kids. He was cradling a wet pile of plastic doll parts in his free arm. "Looking for _this_?" He frowned at them and shook his head. "Tsk, tsk, young parents. Tsk, tsk. A certain evil little girl needs to control her temper."

Chris dropped the doll parts and flinched as Grace tried to pounce on him, making sure to guard his beautiful face. Luckily, Herbie held her back.

Chris, straightening himself out, threatened, "Put the claws away, kitty. Unless you want me to go to your cabin and tell your brother dearest that you were wandering around this death trap of an island in the middle of the night, unsupervised."

Grace's eyes widened. "You wouldn't dare."

"Try me." Chris grinned evilly. "Trent's still up and probably stressed out enough with Gabe. So he'd be extra mad if he found out about your late night adventures with Aqua Man over here." He pointed to Herbie and smirked.

Grace simmered down. "You win this round, McLean…" She grabbed Herbie by the wrist and dragged him away, leaving Chris all by his lonesome.

The host turned to the camera and grinned. "Well, the first set of parents have failed miserably, only shortly after they got started! But it's Grace, so I'm sure chucking her baby off a cliff is exactly what you all expected.

"Who will win? Who will fail miserably like Grace and Herbie? Will Selena successfully sabotage Duncan and Courtney's relationship? Will LeShawna ever forgive Heather?" He looked around, scratched his head and asked, "And what the heck am I doing out here, looking for plastic baby corpses, when it's way past midnight?" He shrugged and continued, "You probably won't figure out the answer to the last one, since even I can't do that… But you'll surely find out the rest of the answers after this commercial break!"

* * *

Oh, snap crackers! Some of these folks better get their heads in the game…


	24. Day 10, Part 1:Hit Me Baby One More Time

Gwen, yawning, walked over to the guy's side of the Killer Wolves cabin and knocked on the door. After not getting an answer, she opened the door herself. Gasping at what she saw, she ran in and yelled, "Trent! What happened?"

The entire cabin was splattered in vomit, from top to bottom. Trent, clothes and hair covered in vomit, was alone and curled up in the fetal position on the floor, a sleeping Gabe lying in the carrier next to him. Rocking himself back and forth and muttering to himself, he stared fearfully into space, eyes wide as saucers.

Gwen kneeled down and shook him gently. "Trent… Trent!"

She shook him more violently and he didn't move, but at least he acknowledged her presence. "It… It was horrible, Gwen. _So much _stuffcame out of this baby last night." He shut his eyes tightly and whispered, "So… much… barf…"

Gwen lifted him up so that he was sitting upright and commented, "I figured you'd be used to all this baby stuff. Didn't you ever help your parents with Grace when she was younger?"

"Yeah," Trent said, nodding and calming down. "But… When Grace was a baby, she wouldn't have even _dreamed_ of doing half the stuff Gabe did last night."

"Oh…" Gwen rubbed his back sympathetically, but cringed when she saw her hand was now covered in barf, too. Wiping it off on a clean patch on his pants, she told him, "Well, at least he's finally happy." She grinned. "Barfing on Daddy must have been fun."

Trent cracked a smile and chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose so." He got up on his feet and pulled his girlfriend up with him. "I'm gonna go take a shower."

"Yeah, you do that," Gwen said, waving a hand in front of her face. "You stink." Picking Gabe up out of his carrier, she waved goodbye. "I'll handle things from here."

"Thanks, babe," he called out to her as she left. Trent grabbed a towel and a bottle of shampoo from his suitcase and headed toward the door. Before he could, he stepped in a puddle of vomit, slipped, and landed in it, making himself even messier.

*T*S*R*

Zoey, holding London, walked into the mess hall, approached Grace at their table and whispered to her, "Did you find Fluffernutter?"

Grace shook her head. "No, but I saw her under your bed. She must have snuck back in last night."

"Oh." Zoey shrugged. "Smart doggie."

Gwen walked in, still carrying Gabe, and saw her brother, still with Danny, trying to eat with one hand. There was a tray in front of the empty seat next to him, so it was safe to assume he was saving it for Selena.

"Zack, where's Selena?" Gwen asked, approaching him.

"Gwuh?" Zack sleepily muttered, barely able to keep his eyes open. "Oh, she said she'd be here soon…"

The Goth cradled Gabe in one arm and put her free hand on her hip. "Where'd she go?"

"Dunno," he answered, shrugging.

She sighed and took Selena's saved seat. "Zack, we need to talk." Placing a hand on his drooping shoulder, she told him, "I haven't seen Selena with Danny very much. I think she's taking advantage of you for an easy win."

"W-what?" Zack looked shocked by this. "N-no, Selena wouldn't do that." Even he didn't look convinced.

"When was the last time she took care of him? Fed him? Even _held_ him?"

Zack looked crestfallen for a moment, but his expression immediately flashed to anger. "Gwen, I think you're right." He stood up and started walking off. "I'm going to go find her."

* * *

"I didn't want to believe it, but I knew it must have been true," Zack mused, looking crestfallen again. "Selena wouldn't be spending so much time trying to ruin the challenge for Courtney and Duncan unless she was just trying to get away from me and Danny." Crossing his arms, he added, "She had better at least apologize to me…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Candace, wearing Geoff's hat, was seated al by herself at the Rabid Wolves table, quietly nibbling on her burnt toast. As she peeled the charred crusts off, Geoff sat down next to her, a smile on his face.

"A certain little lady wants to see her mommy," he cheerfully said, holding Kylie out to her.

"Aww!" Candace took the hat off and held it out toward Geoff. "And a certain hat wants to be back on his daddy's head!"

They traded said items. Candace held her pretend daughter and Geoff put his not pretend hat back on.

"What's for breakie?" Geoff asked.

"I think it's cereal," Candace mused, poking the substance in the bowl on her tray with her spoon. The spoon would not go through it. "Whatever it is, I got you a bowl, too." She handed him the extra bowl of solid cereal that she had gotten.

"Thanks, Candy," he said, grinning.

"No prob. So, did you sleep okay last night?"

"Not really." Geoff shrugged. "But I'm cool. I'm used to little sleep after some of my all night shindigs back home."

"Oh, those sound fun!" Candace perkily said.

"When we get off the island, you should totally come to one!" Geoff slung an arm around her. "Since you won't know any of my buds back home, you can hang with me all night, if you want."

"That's sweet," Candace muttered, blushing at his arm being around her. "But I don't think I can wait that long to spend more time with you…"

Geoff looked down at her, grinning even wider than he had before. "Are you… asking me out?"

Candace bit her lip shyly and nodded. "I know you just broke up with Bridgette, so if you aren't up for it yet, or just don't want to-"

"No, I totally do!" Geoff eagerly cheered. "How about tonight?"

"Really? Yay!" Candace happily cheered, throwing her arms in the air. Unfortunately, she had still been holding Kylie and flung her in the air, too.

Both parents screamed like little girls, but Geoff luckily caught her.

Nudging him, Candace complimented, "Nice catch, Geoff!"

* * *

"This. Is. AWESOME!" Geoff yelled, pumping his fists. "I've been so bummed ever since the break-up, this is exactly what I need to get me back in the partying mood!" Resting his chin in his hand, he sighed, "Candace is so sweet and happy… She could make _Chef _feel like partying. "

* * *

"Yes, yes, yes!" Candace squealed, squirming like crazy. "I got a date with Geoffy!" Realization struck her and she frowned. "I just hope one of us isn't voted off tonight…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Zack finally found Selena, who was walking away from the Bears cabin and giggling like a madwoman.

"Selena!" Zack harshly yelled.

Calming down a little, she waved. "Hey, Zack. Wait, I thought you were saving my place at the breakfast table…"

"I know what you're up to, you manipulative… manipulator!" Zack was too mad to think up any better insults.

"Oh, yeah," Selena giggled again, pointing to their cabin. "I just suggested to Duncan and Courtney that they let Michelle have a play date with Malik. Duncan was all for it, but Courtney blew up. It was a riot."

"You did _that _instead of helping me take care of Danny?" He held him up and spat, "He's _your _son, too, you know!"

Selena looked angry, now. "Well, ex-cuuuse me for trying to help my brother out. I thought you were a team player, Zack!"

Zack gaped, then screamed, "_You're_ accusing _me_ of being a lousy teammate? You've neglected Danny for the past few days and I'm sick of being stuck with all the responsibility!"

"I didn't ask for this kid, you know!" Selena screamed. "I had dreams, dreams that didn't involve being a teen mother!"

"Oh, would you shut up?" Zack screamed, spiking Danny in the ground with fury. He screamed like the dickens, but his father was too angry to care. "We only had to take care of these things together for three days, and you couldn't even do that for me. You were too busy doing what you wanted," he spat.

Selena's face fell. "Oh, my gosh… You're right, Zack."

"Heck yeah, I'm right! I'm just glad this is almost over, so I don't have to deal with you anymore!"

Selena gasped at that remark, tears brimming her eyes. "Z-Zack… You don't mean that, do you?"

"Yes, I do! I'm fed up with you and your crap! God, you are so freaking annoying, I don't know why I've put up with you for _this_ long!"

Selena finally started crying as Zack continued to yell such hurtful things to her. She had never seen him so mad. He had always been so sweet to everyone, including her. She must have really pushed him over the edge.

As he kept on yelling at her, Chris walked up to them and looked down at Danny, who was by Zack's feet. He shook his head, ashamed of their poor parenting skills. The host picked the wailing baby up and walked off without another word. Zack was too blinded with fury to see him and Selena was too blinded by her own tears.

*T*S*R*

"I've gotta admit, Cody," LeShawna started as she walked to the cliff alongside Cody, "but I had my doubts when it came to you taking care of the baby. You did a pretty good job!"

"Really?" Cody asked, Ty in his arms. She nodded. "Thanks, LeShawna. I was really nervous last night. I mean really, _really_ nervous. I was sure I was going to screw something up!"

"Why are we going up here, again?" LeShawna asked. "It might not be the best idea, with a baby and all…"

"Oh, relax!" Cody nonchalantly said, waving his free hand at her. "I proved what an awesome dad I can be. I can handle having him up this high." Cody stopped at the very edge, looking down below. "Ty'll like looking at the crashing waves."

LeShawna was still walking, not looking where she was going. "Yeah, but what if-" She bumped right into him, making him almost lose his balance. Luckily, he didn't if he flailed his arms around. Unluckily, it meant he had to drop Ty.

Cody blanched as he watched the simulator fall, his tiny screams echoing against the cliff.

When LeShawna backed away from him and he turned around, she didn't even ask what happened. "I hate you," she growled.

Cody sighed and looked down at his feet. "I don't blame you…"

"What is up with you kids throwing your babies off of cliffs?" A voice that sounded like Chris' yelled from the shore below them.

*T*S*R*

"Why can't we let Michelle play with Malik?"

"Look at the kid's parents! He's got to be a horrible little monster! I don't want my daughter to hang out with such bad influences!"

"Courtney, you are such a nut case!" Duncan yelled, cradling a screaming Michelle in his arms.

"Well, maybe if you ever took me out anymore, I wouldn't be!" Courtney snapped, tears in her eyes.

Duncan calmed down, realizing something. He held up his hand and said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa… Court, can we stop? We sound like an old married couple."

Courtney gasped, then glared at him, pure hatred in her eyes. "So now I'm _old_, am I?"

Duncan threw an arm in the air, feeling defeated. "I can't talk to you when you're like this!" He roughly shoved Michelle at Courtney, which only made the simulator wail even more.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Out!" Duncan walked out of the girl's side of the Bears cabin and slammed the door.

Looking absolutely infuriated, she screamed, "Duncan Caliver, you'd better not come home drunk!"

*T*S*R*

Heather watched carefully as DJ fed Essie her bottle. "You're really good with her, DJ."

DJ looked up and grinned. "Thanks. I've seen you with her, too, and you're not half bad yourself."

Heather looked saddened by this, but still said, "Thank you… I tried to start babysitting to earn some extra money after TDI…" She looked out the mess hall window to avoid looking him in the eye when she finished by adding, "But after their parents saw me and my horrible ways on the first season, they wouldn't let me within ten feet of their kids."

"Oh… Sorry that happened."

"It's fine," she sighed. "I was still bald then, so I would have scared them, anyway."

Both laughed and DJ tried to comfort her by adding, "Don't worry, girl. After everybody sees how cool you are this time around, nobody's gonna be able to stay mad at you for long."

"You really think so? Even LeShawna and Gwen?"

"Those two are too nice to stay mad forever," DJ soothingly said.

Heather smiled. "Thank you, DJ…"

*T*S*R*

Duncan mumbled to himself, trying to blow off some steam. "Nerve of that woman," he muttered.

Before he could talk to himself any more, he heard some crying. He looked around, seeing his sister bawling her eyes out and Zack screaming his head off at her.

The miffed off and slightly sad feeling Duncan had before turned into one of pure fury. He stormed over to Zack and stood behind him, glaring at the back of his head.

"-but what should I expect from you? I should have known after how you freaked out during the Phobia Factor that you'd be nothing but a pain in the butt!"

Selena, still sobbing, finally noticed that Duncan was there. Even though Zack was saying some mean things about her, she still felt that she should warn him, by the fiery look on Duncan's face. "Zack, please st-"

"I'm not gonna stop!" he screamed, red in the face. "You're gonna shut up your gigantic trap for once! I don't want to hear whatever obnoxious thing you have to say! But at least you're not as bad as your brother. He's ten times more annoying than you are! With him as your example, it's no wonder you're such a total freak!"

Before Selena could try to give him another warning, Duncan shoved him to the ground with his foot and kept it on his back, limiting his possibilities of escaping. "You wanna keep insulting me and my family?" he growled.

Zack turned his head and gaped when he realized that Duncan had heard a lot of what he said. "Duncan, this isn't what it-"

"-looks like?" Duncan finished for him. He sneered, "That's you answer for everything, isn't it?" He pressed down harder on his back, making him yelp in pain. "You've got a lot of nerve, kid. My sister's nothing but nice to you, but disrespect her every chance you can get."

Wiping away her tears, she whimpered, "D-Duncan, no! I-I-It's all my fault. I-"

"Selena, I'm busy," Duncan said, still glaring at Zack. "I'm going to give this little freak what he's got coming to him…"

*T*S*R*

Keith sat down on his bed, next to Marilee. "Am I doing this right?" he asked her as he fed Jackie her bottle.

Marilee inspected his actions and nodded. "Yeah, looks about right. I'm not a baby feeding expert or anything." She looked down bashfully at her feet and added, "Keith, I usually hate little kids, babies being what I hate more than anything." She finally looked into his eyes and said, "But I've had a great time these past three days. I think it's because I'm taking care of her… with you."

She smiled at him and Keith happily returned the smile. "I've had a great time, too. I'm glad Chris paired me up with you instead of Izzy or somebody even crazier than you."

"Yeah, I-" Marilee caught what he meant, yelled, "Hey!" and slapped his arm. She was, however, smiling.

Keith laughed and Marilee giggled, both turning away from each other at the moment. When they turned back around, his dark brown eyes met her crystal blue ones. They stared at each other for a while. Keith had a strange urge that he need to fulfill, and he needed to do it before Marilee went back to her snappish self.

Keith sat Jackie down in her carrier and turned towards Marilee. They leaned closer to each other, so close that their noses were practically touching. As their lips parted and they leaned even closer to each other for a kiss, the door flung open and Marilee gasped, pushing Keith on the floor.

Geoff ran in, looking uber excited. "There you guys are! Guess what?" Keith didn't guess as he got back up and rubbed his head and Marilee was too busy blushing furiously to guess. "I got a date with Candace tonight!"

"Uh… Yay…" Marilee muttered, waving a hand in front of her face to cool herself off.

"Just wanted to give you guys the heads up. Heck, I'm giving _everybody here _the heads up! Later!" He ran back out the door, shutting it behind him.

Marilee let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in and Keith sat back down next to her. "Now…" He sexily cocked an eyebrow at her. "Where were we?"

Marilee scoffed and pushed him back on the floor.

* * *

"Thank goodness Geoff came in when he did!" Marilee exclaimed. "I almost… _Kissed Keith_!" She hissed the last two words, like just saying it made her skin crawl.

* * *

"I hate Geoff for coming in when he did," Keith mumbled, pouting. "I almost… _Kissed Marilee_." He said the last two words with such longing.

* * *

*T*S*R*

After Trent had cleaned up, Gwen met up with him so they could take care of Gabe together again. "You okay now?" she asked.

"Yeah, the shower woke me up and now I don't smell like puke," he said, nodding.

"At least one of us feels decent…"

Trent looked worried by this statement. "What's wrong, Gwen?"

"Zack went off to find Selena a while ago and I haven't seen him since. I'm kind of worried."

"I can take care of Gabe if you want to go look for him," he told her.

"No, Trent, you were up all night with him and-"

"But I'm fine now," Trent argued. "Besides, I know you'd do the same for me if Grace went missing. Go find him."

Gwen smiled and gave him a kiss. "Thanks, Trent. I can always count on you." She ran off, leaving her two boys alone.

Trent looked down and Gabe and grinned a little. "Looks like it's you and me again, huh, buddy?"

Gabe responded by barfing in his face.

"Oh, come _oooon_!" Trent whined, his face dripping in baby barf.

*T*S*R*

"Izzy, are you sure this is a good idea?" Owen asked as he handed Malik to her.

"Sure, it is!" She tied some string around his little waist. "I wanna teach my son to be adventurous and to try new things!"

"I just don't think this is the best thing to do, when we're so close to winning," Owen told her, tapping his fingers together nervously.

"We got away with letting him play with that family of raccoons," Izzy pointed out. "Why would Chris take him away for letting him do this?"

"Well, it's just that… Seriously, Iz, bungee jumping? Off the mess hall roof? With _yarn_?"

The camera panned out to show that they were, indeed, sitting on the roof of the mess hall. Izzy had tightly tied some yarn around Malik and had the rest of the yarn wrapped around her hand for extra grip.

"Relax, Owen! Everything will be just fine! I'd use a bungee cord…" She lifted Malik up to her face and cooed, "But that might hurt his widdle bewwy…"

Without another word from either parent, Izzy tossed the baby off the side of the roof. "Bounce back to Mommy, little guy!" He didn't listen to her. "Malik?"

The couple peered over the edge and screamed in terror when they saw their baby plummeting to the ground. There must have been a frayed part that finally snapped when he bounced.

Before poor Malik could face plant in the grass, Chris, Danny tucked under his arm, caught him before his untimely demise. He looked up at Izzy and Owen and shook his head. "Good golly, what is up with you kids chucking your babies off of high surfaces?"

He started to walk away, but was kicked in the back by a flying Izzy, knocking him to the ground. Malik went flying and Izzy caught him. "You ain't taking _my_ baby, government man!" She tucked Malik under her arm and bolted away, laughing manically.

"Izzy, wait for me!" Owen yelled, gently trying to squirm his way off the roof. He fell off completely and landed on Chris.

Chris shoved the large teen off of him and got up on his feet, running after Izzy. "You already failed the challenge! Why the heck are you resisting?"

"Because I wants to keeps my baby!" Izzy yelled back, now up in a tall tree.

Chris and Owen ran over to the tree, Chris looking very mad and Owen looking very hungry. "Either get down from there or give me the baby!"

"Never!"

"… Which one? You'll never come down or you'll never give me the baby?"

"Both!"

Chris, grunting a little, tossed his clipboard in her direction. It only went up about three feet in the air and came back down on his head.

* * *

"Darn it, Dad, why didn't you teach me how to throw when I was a kid?" Chris angrily asked, an ice pack on the place on his head where the clipboard had landed. "Why, Dad, why?"

* * *

"Oh, snap!" Izzy flinched in fear. "That clipboard of death nearly got me! I could practically feel its body heat!" Frantically looking at Owen, she tossed Malik at him. "Keep him away from Chris, Owen!"

"How?" Owen yelled, panicked.

"I don't know, just make sure Chris will never be able to get to him!"

Chris slowly approached the hefty blonde, a welcoming smile on his face. "Just hand me the baby and no one gets hurt, big fella…"

"Uh… Uh… Uh!" Owen panicked and did the first thing that came to mind.

He ate the baby.

Letting out a loud burp after swallowing poor Malik, he rubbed his full belly and sighed happily. "There you go! You'll be nice and safe in there, buddy!" He belched again, and Chris could have sworn he heard a baby's cry mixed in with the burp.

Sighing, he muttered, "Whatever. One less baby for me to carry back to the production set, I guess."

*T*S*R*

"Zack?" Gwen called out. "Zaaaaaack?"

She wandered closer to the cabins, where she saw three figures. One of the figures, a blur of black and green had a hard grip on another one of the figures, and a pink and black figure was trying to keep the black and green figure off of the figure in his clutches. Upon getting closer, she saw that it was Duncan trying to throttle Zack, but Selena was holding back his curled-up fist.

"Duncan, stop it!" Selena screamed, more tears streaming down her face than ever. "Please, just let me explain!"

"Let go of me," Duncan harshly said. "I'm doing this for you!"

"How would knocking Zack's teeth out help me? That'd make me feel even worse!"

Zack just whimpered in fear, eyes shut tight as he prepared for a pounding.

Gwen gasped and ran over, grabbing Zack and shoving Duncan down. "What the heck, Duncan? Are you crazy?"

"No," Duncan grumbled as he got up and dusted himself off. "But you must be, if you're sticking up for that little jerk!"

"You're the jerk in this situation!" Gwen yelled, pushing Zack behind her. "You tried to hurt my brother, and I'll bet he didn't even do anything to deserve it!"

He clenched his teeth and growled, "So yelling at my sister doesn't earn him a punch or two?"

"Whatever he said to her, she probably deserved to hear!" Gwen spat back. "She's barely helped him during this challenge at all!"

"Uh…" Selena looked around awkwardly. "Maybe we should go…"

"Stay," Duncan barked, still glaring at Gwen. "So I was gonna hit him, big deal! The weakling's probably used to it by now!"

Gwen looked absolutely furious now. "You mean you've picked on him _before_?"

"He deserved it for groping Selena while she was drunk on that weird elixir!"

Gwen gasped, then turned to Zack. "Zack! That's just disgusting! I thought you were better than to do something like that!"

"Gwen, you don't understand!" Zack yelled, blushing in embarrassment at his sister knowing that. "I-I-I…"

"Everybody just SHUUUUUT UUUUUUP!" Selena screamed at the top of her lungs. The three others turned to her. "Duncan… You think Zack did that?" She looked down at her feet. "Oh, man. Man, oh, man…" She sighed a very ashamed sigh and muttered something under her breath.

"What was that?" Zack asked.

She muttered it a little louder, but still barely audible.

"I still can't hear," Gwen told her.

"_I did it_," she whispered.

"What?" Duncan asked, cocking his unibrow.

"I did it, okay?" She hid her face in her hands. "I was acting all wacko and made Zack do that to me. He tried to get away because he knew it wasn't right, but I… I wouldn't let him."

Duncan looked almost emotionless, if he didn't look so shocked. "And I just can't believe you've been doing stuff like this to him before." She removed her hands from her face, revealing how hurt she looked when she thought about it. "I knew you can be a little harsh sometimes… But for you to do something like _this_? To my friend? To a guy as sweet as him?" She looked down at her feet. "I… I expected better from you…"

"Uh…" Gwen grabbed Zack by the shoulders and shoved him away, knowing the siblings needed some space. "We're going to give you guys some time alone now…"

After they were gone, Duncan sighed and admitted, "Okay, it was probably wrong of me to wail on him so much without getting both sides of the story… But that doesn't give him the right to treat you like he just did!"

"It was my fault! I basically ignored Zack and the baby and pushed him over the edge! If you should be mad at anybody, you should be mad at me!"

"And why is that?"

Selena looked down at the ground guiltily, then muttered, "Because I've been using the past three days to sabotage you and Courtney."

Duncan's expression angered, but he was silent for a moment. After what seemed like an eternity to Selena, he gruffly asked, "_What_?"

"You heard me," she said, eyes narrowing. "I don't like Courtney at all. If you weren't such an oblivious dunderhead, you would have figured that out."

"Dropping Michelle? Starting that argument between us this morning? Wait, were you the one who drew that skull on her neck? Courtney blamed me for that!" Duncan's fists clenched. "How could you be so selfish?"

"Me?" Selena scoffed and pointed at herself. "Me? Duncan, I know there's more than one reason as to why you hate Zack so much. It's not just because of the… thing that happened or how he yelled at me before. You just hate him because I like him. Like, _like like _him. And you apparently hate to see me happy."

Duncan, through clenched teeth, retorted, "You're one to talk. Courtney's the best thing to ever happen to me, and you hate her all the same. You have no right to tell me who I can and can't date. I, however, can keep you away from as many freaks as I want."

"Zack. Is not. A freak." Selena growled, new tears forming. "I'm not a baby anymore. You can't keep telling me what to do."

Duncan leaned down, so that their noses were practically touching, and hissed, "Watch me."

He started to walk away, but Selena wouldn't let him. She grabbed his wrist and yelled, "I'm sick of you pushing me around! My entire life, you've expected me to do whatever you say, like some mindless slave! You think you know what's best for me, but you don't!"

"Let go of me," Duncan demanded, still not looking at her. "I'm sick of listening to your crap."

"You're going to listen to me for once and you're going to like it!" She let his wrist go and did what she had wanted to do to her brother for thirteen years.

She punched him right in the face.

Falling on his butt, Duncan looked up at the girl towering before him, shocked that it was still the little sister who had never so much as dared to do any physical harm to him. There was a huge, red spot on his cheek where she had punched him, and it stung like heck, but no way would he show her that she had hurt him by rubbing it or even wincing in pain. He just looked up at her, shell-shocked.

More tears fell down her cheeks, when she realized what she had done. "I'm sorry," she said, barely a whisper. "But I just need you to hear me out." Rubbing her head, she started, "I'm sorry for trying to sabotage you and Courtney, okay? It was wrong and immature and… like, a thousand other things. Point is, I shouldn't have done it. But you shouldn't have been so mean to Zack."

Duncan got up on his feet, still slightly shook up. "I was just trying to teach him a lesson. I'd be a terrible brother if I let anybody treat you like that."

"Would you stop playing bodyguard, Duncan?" Selena pleaded. "I know you want to protect me and I appreciate that." Tears built up again. "I really do… It just reminds me that you _do_ have a bit of a heart, somewhere deep down under that crusty shell of yours." She looked back up at him, blurry-eyed. "But I _can_ take care of myself, at least most of the time… You understand, bro?"

If Duncan felt any emotion, he certainly was good at hiding it. He was silent for a moment, just looking at her. Unexpectedly, he broke out in a huge smile and picked her up in a bone-crushing hug. "Ah, I knew you had some guts somewhere in that scrawny twig you call a body!"

"So… So you're not mad?" she wheezed. "Not even about Courtney?"

"Naaaah," he said, putting her down. "I gotta admit, Courtney can be a little annoying. I _would_ have been angry, but… Man, standing up to me, even after thirteen years of seeing what I'm capable of… You even had the gall to hit me. That takes some serious guts right there." He punched her arm in a way-to-go sort of way, a look of pride on his face. "Maybe you don't need your big bro, anymore…"

Selena rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't be silly. Of course, I do. I just don't need you as often as I used to."

Duncan brought her in for another hug, a gentler one this time, and it was kind of a nice scene until he remembered something. "Wait, are the cameras still rolling?" He let Selena go and ran off to find the nearest cameraman, who was only several feet away. "Shut those things off, dude! We were trying to talk in peace! Don't you know anything about privacy?"

The poor man screamed, dropped his equipment, and raced off, Duncan close on his tail.

Selena shook her head, a shadow of a grin on her face. "Well… That was almost a nice brother and sister moment…"

*T*S*R*

As Duncan walked back to the campground, he saw Courtney playing tug-of-war with the phony Child Protection Services agent himself, Chris. Instead of a rope, they were tugging on poor Michelle.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you think you're doing?" Duncan asked, yanking Michelle away from the both of them.

"Chris is trying to take our baby away!" Courtney screeched, jabbing a finger in Chris' direction.

"Duh, that's my job!" Chris pointed out, pointing to his CPS cap. "Look, sensors say this baby had basically been crying her head off over the past few days and cameras show it's because you two knuckleheads have been too busy fighting to take care of her."

"We'll stop!" Duncan argued. "It's not even our fault, anyway. Somebody was sabotaging us!"

"What? Who?" Courtney asked. After thinking it over, she didn't need an answer. "Oh, it was Selena, wasn't it?"

"Well, I _was_ trying to be subtle… But, yes, that's who I meant," Duncan admitted.

"Oooh, that little-"

"I'll explain what happened to you, later," Duncan told her before she could let out any insults. He turned to Chris and told him, "Still, you're not taking our baby!"

"You and what army?" Chris demanded.

"My five-fingered army!" Duncan swung to punch Chris, who flinched in fear of the punk hitting his beautiful face. However, it was just a mock punch to distract him. Tucking the simulator under his arm, he sprinted off, leaving a bamboozled Chris behind.

*T*S*R*

Jovie slipped her bright green headband in her short black hair and took a good look at herself in the mirror. She had gotten enough sleep over those past few days to make a quick recovery. Her sinuses were cleared and she felt better than ever.

"Guess I'd better see how my peeps are doing…"

*T*S*R*

"Go, Duncan, go!" Courtney cheered as her boyfriend raced away with their baby.

Chris was close behind him, waving his clipboard at him. "Don't make me use this!" He flung the clipboard at him, but it landed a mere six feet away and Chris ended up tripping over it. Chris slammed on the ground with his fists and screamed, "Gah, I hate you, Dad!"

"Ha ha, sucker!" Duncan looked down at Michelle and grinned. "Don't worry, kid. Daddy's gonna win this challenge if it kills him!" He was too busy looking down at her to notice the fact that he was approaching Chef Hatchet, who grabbed the punk by his fauxhawk. "…And I'm thinking it will."

"I'll take that," Chef said, grabbing Michelle from Duncan's death grip.

He dropped Duncan and stalked off with the baby tucked under his arm.

*T*S*R*

"Why'd you stop?"

"Because Geoff came barging in, that's why."

"But why didn't you keep going after he left?"

"Because I came back to my senses, that's why!"

"… But why-"

"Because I **so** don't want to kiss you, that's why!" Marilee screamed as she carried Jackie back toward the cabin. She had left the cabin in the first place to go to the bathroom, but Keith followed her there with all kinds of questions as to the dismissal of the raging hormones she had felt before Geoff had interrupted their little moment. Marilee made the skater boy stay outside the bathroom, but that didn't mean Keith stopped questioning her even then.

"You did before! What made you change your mind?"

"My mind, because it started working again."

"Marilee, look…" Keith sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Back in the cabin, I felt something. Something I've never felt before. I could tell that you felt it, too. That thing we felt is an emotion I don't think you're familiar with. The emotion?" He leaned closer to her and whispered in her ear, "_Amour_."

"What?" Marilee gawked at him, not looking where she was walking. Unexpectedly, she tripped over a rock and fell flat on her back, sending Jackie flying into the air.

"AHHH!" The duo simultaneously screamed.

As Jackie raced through the air, Jovie emerged from the cabin. "Hey, y'all! I'm alive and kicking!" She caught the simulator in her hands and looked at the thing, rather confused. She looked over at Keith and Marilee and arched an eyebrow. "Is this anyway to congratulate me for my recovery? By throwing baby dolls at me?"

"Jovie!" Marilee got on her feet again and ran over to her, giving her a huge hug. "You're a life saver!"

"Way to go, Jov!" Keith cheered, running over to join in the hug.

Jovie looked at the two teammates hugging her, down at Jackie, then back at them again. "Girl misses a lot when she's sick, doesn't she?"

*T*S*R*

"Whoa, that was way harsh," Holly said, gaping at the monitor in the production tent.

"Agreed," Marina said, looking disgusted at what was on the screen.

Tamyra shook her head. "Guys like him make me sick."

"Even I find what he said mean," Mia mused.

Chris walked into the tent, carrying a few of the babies, which he had deactivated so they would shut up. He tossed them on the ground and walked over to the interns. "Hey, ladies. Whatcha watching?"

"Watching what this horrible guy did to that poor blonde girl," Tamyra explained, pointing to the monitor.

Chris looked at the monitor, then back to the girls. "Kanye West and Taylor Swift? What are you guys doing watching the VMAs when you're supposed to be looking over the footage for this episode? Besides, I thought the VMAs didn't premiere until this fall. And in America, at that."

Mia shrugged and said, "Guess they wanted to do them earlier. And you do get some American channels on your TVs."

"Whatever…" Chris looked to the monitor adjacent to him and gasped. "Whoa, check this out, guys." They turned to see footage of Selena being mercilessly yelled at by Zack. The girls reacted even angrier than they did when they saw Kanye's little speech.

"That little creep!" Holly sneered.

"That jerk!" Tamyra growled.

"That cretin!" Marina hissed.

"That genius!" Chris gasped, whipping out a notepad and pen and writing down some of the insults he heard the young man say. When the girls glared at him, he stopped mid-word and dropped the pad altogether. "Oh, I mean…" He put on his angriest face and nodded. "Yeah… What a total jerk."

*T*S*R*

The campers had gathered in the amphitheater, as Chris had ordered them to. It was time for the parents who still had their babies to give them back and for them to see who would win.

Chris walked onto stage, next to the box that the simulators had originally come in. "First up is Geoff and Candace. You two were pretty much the only couple to remain level-headed during this whole thing. Your future spouses will be lucky to have you when you have kiddies of your own! Well done, guys."

Candace carried the supplies over to the box and Geoff carried Kylie, looking awfully sad. "I… I…" He sniffled and hugged the simulator. "I'm gonna miss you, baby girl!" He sobbed violently and continued to cling onto her until Chris practically had to pry her away from him. Candace patted his arm for support and offered him a warm smile as she led him off stage.

"Next up, Trent and Gwen. You made it through all the puke that kid launched at you and you still smell sort of decent. Kudos!"

Gwen, with their supplies, and Trent, carrying Gabe, put them back in the box, but not before Gabe gave his father one last goodbye vomit.

"Of course," Trent muttered, wiping the puke off of his cheek as they walked off stage.

"DJ and Heather, nice work. You two work pretty well together."

"Yeah…" Heather mused as she walked on stage with DJ and dropped the supplies and Essie off. "Yeah, I guess we do."

"Zoey and Xavier… I can't believe you actually pulled it off," Chris admitted.

Zoey and Xavier said their goodbyes to little London and dropped her in the box, along with the supplies. They took their seats again and looked to the couple next to them, who were surely up next.

"And last but not least, Marilee and Keith! You barely made it with that last little slip up, but luckily Jovie was there to make sure you all didn't screw up. Still, you make a pretty good team when you put your minds to it."

"We'd make a better team if I got some smooching," Keith mumbled, pouting.

Marilee elbowed him as they walked on stage. She placed Jackie in the box and Keith put their supplies in there with her.

After the two took their seats again, Chris smiled and exclaimed, "And thus ends three of the hardest days of your young lives! I hope you all have learned a valuable lesson from this experience."

"Having a baby is a huge responsibility?" Gwen asked.

"You have to learn to compromise with others?" Selena suggested.

"Always remember to lock the cabin door when you're about to do something…" Keith looked over at Marilee and emphasized, "_Important?"_

"Baby simulators can give you indigestion?" Owen called out, letting out a big fart that sounded slightly like a baby's cry.

"All good morals, but none of them are the ones I'm looking for." He put his Child Protection Services cap back on, looked at himself in the handheld mirror he pulled out of his pocket and grinned. "I can pull any hat off. Even ugly ones like this black and yellow horror."

The campers rolled their eyes at his vanity and LeShawna yelled, "So, who won?"

Chris snapped out of his trance and tossed the mirror and hat aside. "Well, that's where things get a little tricky. You see, five of the Killer Bears won, but five of the Rabid Wolves also won."

"Oh, no," Gwen muttered, slapping her forehead.

"That doesn't mean there's going to be a tie breaker, does there?" DJ asked.

"Actually, no." Chris grinned. "We've decided to see which team lost the most… The Rabid Wolves have five loses…"

"Oh, yeah!" Owen cheered. "We won!"

"Not so fast, big guy," Chris interrupted. "You Killer Bears, on the other hand, have a total of seven loses. That means the Rabid Wolves are the winners!"

Said team cheered loudly, Marilee being the loudest. "Yes, yes, yes! We won! No Wolves are getting voted off tonight!" She pulled Keith into a huge hug and squealed, "And we couldn't have won if we hadn't worked so well together!"

Letting him go, she practically flung her arms around his neck and did something that made everyone's jaws drop and made Keith's stomach flop.

She had kissed him.

You could literally hear a pin drop, everybody was so silent from shock. Keith, even in his shocked state, was able to flash the camera a quick thumbs up before wrapping his arms around her and returning the kiss.

Marilee pushed him off of her, panting like crazy. Realizing what she had just done, she looked around at the still shocked people around her. All she could think to do was grunt in frustration, kick Keith in the shin and run off. The kick had hurt Keith too much for him to follow her. All he could do was grip his leg in pain.

"Only on reality TV, folks," Chris told the campers, still grinning. "Well, you Wolves will get a super awesome prize tonight, right after the Bears have their bonfire ceremony. Speaking of ceremony… There's a twist to tonight's vote… " He pointed to a few of the Rabid Wolves and yelled, "The Wolves are voting, too!

"That's right, nobody can vote for the Wolves, but the Wolves can vote for any Bears without invincibility. Oh, what a twist it is!"

Chris jumped off stage and walked away from the group. "See you tonight, everyone!

* * *

Next chapter will be up by tomorrow. Sorry, this chapter was just getting way too long.

Stuff will make more sense once the ceremony and stuff happens. And boy, is there a shocking twist about who will get voted off… Or is there? You'll just have to find out… ;)


	25. Day 10 Part 2: Save the Drama Fo Yo Mama

I lied. It's a few days after 'tomorrow'. Sorry, my mom needed to use the laptop, so I couldn't finish this chapter and… Well, it's done now!

Read, review, and enjoy (Though I doubt some of you will)

* * *

Once Chris had left the amphitheater, the campers had all gone their separate ways to decide who they wanted to vote off. Geoff and Jovie, loving to tease, had gone off to find Marilee and tease her about kissing Keith.

Selena caught up with Zack after everyone else had separated. "Hey…"

"Hey… We're still cool, right?"

Selena smiled. "The coolest. I'm sorry about this whole brouhaha…"

Zack cocked an eyebrow. "Who says 'brouhaha' anymore?" He grinned and nudged her playfully. "Kidding. Don't worry about it. All water under the bridge."

They walked by a group that consisted of Trent, Jovie and Geoff, who were all huddled around and looking at something Marilee was holding.

"Hi, guys," Zack greeted, waving. "Whatcha looking at?"

The group looked up at the two, their eyes narrowing. They went back to looking at the thing Marilee had without another word.

"Weird," Zack muttered. Selena nodded in agreement as they kept going.

They passed by another group, consisting of Candace, Herbie and Xavier, who were all talking to Gwen. Gwen didn't look very happy, and she had whispered something with Selena's name being mentioned.

"Hey, peeps," Selena cheerfully greeted.

That group did the same thing the first group did, only angrier.

Selena and Zack couldn't help but look offended as they walked away. "What was that about?" Selena asked.

Zack shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe they're all just in bad moods or something…

* * *

Just to set things straight, that kiss I gave Keith was a victory kiss, that's all," Marilee explained. "More like a casual kiss, really. Spanish people do it all the time…" She shifted in her seat and muttered, "Though they don't usually do it on the lips… And they don't usually last twenty seconds…" She threw her hands up in the air and yelled, "It was totally spur of the moment and it was the worst spur I've ever… spurred! I will never go out with Keith Carlisle! Never, never, never, never-"

* * *

"Wow…" Keith felt his lips, which were smeared with Marilee's cherry lip gloss. "Marilee Anderson has got to be the most unpredictable, obnoxious, irritating chick ever to walk the face of the Earth…" He rested his chin in his hand and sighed, "And she's the most amazing girl I have ever met…"

* * *

"- never, never, never, never, never, never-"

* * *

"Ha ha, I knew it!" Izzy cheered. "I knew lil' Mari would smooch Keithers by this week! Gwen owes me ten bucks and a box of jelly beans!"

* * *

"Well… That thing with Keith and Marilee sure was… interesting," Zack mumbled. "Anyway, I kind of noticed some of our teammates acting weird when Selena and I passed them a while ago. You think they heard what happened? Gosh, I hope they aren't mad at either of us…"

* * *

"-NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER!"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Nighttime had fallen. The Killer Bears were gathered around the campfire and the Rabid Wolves were nearby, so they could claim their reward after the ceremony. There was some tension in the air, but a few choice individuals had no idea why.

"Welcome to your first bonfire ceremony, Bears," Chris congratulated as he walked toward his oil drum podium with a tray full of marshmallows. "Just gotta say, it's about time you guys lost a team member, to even things out a little.

"Anyway, you guys know how this works. You get a marshmallow, goodie for you. If you don't, then you have to walk the Dock of Shame, take a little ride on the Boat of Losers, and you can never come back. Ever!" He laughed and grabbed the first few marshmallows. "Let's get the immune campers out of the way. Trent and Gwen." He tossed them their marshmallows. "Zoey, Candace and Heather, you ladies are safe, too…" Once they got their invincibility, he looked at the remaining kids.

"Now, time to give marshmallows to the campers who got no votes at all… Courtney, Duncan, Owen…"

Courtney and Duncan caught their marshmallows in their hands, while Owen caught his in his mouth.

"Only four campers left, but only three marshmallows," Chris announced.

Cody, Grace, Selena and Zack fidgeted in their seats nervously. Grace swung her feet, Cody bit his fingernails, and Selena rocked back and forth on her stump. Zack just fidgeted. He seemed surprisingly calm. After letting all that steam out, who wouldn't be?

Chris held up a new marshmallow and said, "Cody and Grace… you two basically threw your babies off of a cliff. Not exactly the best parenting skills.

"Selena and Zack, our footage shows that not only did Selena neglect her kid, but Zack also has a tongue of venom!"

* * *

"What? How could the others possibly have known about that?" Selena asked.

* * *

"When I first got the message on my phone, I couldn't believe it," Marilee said, looking shocked. "I've never seen Zack so much as hurt a fly, but all that mean stuff he said to Selena could have killed a puppy!" She grimaced and growled, "_Nobody_ messes with my friends."

* * *

"I'm still pretty ticked at Selena for piling all that work on Zack," Gwen muttered angrily. "He may have forgiven her, but I'm not quite ready to yet. That goes double for Duncan. Still, I voted for Selena. I also spread the word about her deceitfulness… That'll teach you to mess with _my_ brother."

* * *

"Since stupid Gwen is immune," Grace started, looking mad, "There's no other choice but smelly old Zack. If I can't get rid of Gwen…" She smirked evilly. "I'll get rid of the person she cares for the most on the island…"

* * *

"I know poor Cody didn't mean to throw Ty over that darn cliff," LeShawna admitted. "But still, I couldn't help but hold a bit of a grudge…" She shrugged. "Sorry, Cody! I sort of regret doing it now. Hopefully, you won't get voted off tonight, buddy…"

* * *

"I'd probably be madder about what Gwen told me about Selena if I wasn't so excited about tonight!" Candace laughed. "But I'm still voting her off, 'cause that was really mean of her to abandon poor Zack like that. Geoff would never do that, because he's so cool and sweet and…" She clapped her hands and giggled. "Tee hee hee! I can't believe he said yes!"

* * *

"Grace told me that Trent told her that Zack said some not nice things to Selena," Zoey said, looking heartbroken. "She's the greatest big sister in the whole world, so I'm voting him off! Bye bye, booger face!" she yelled and ended with a raspberry.

* * *

"Who did I vote for?" Courtney rolled her eyes. "Selena. Duh. Nobody, not even my boyfriend's sister, gets away with sabotaging Courtney!"

* * *

"I voted for Grace," Duncan told the camera. "Selena would get mad if I voted off Zack after all that's happened today and…" He shrugged. "Besides, the kid even scares _me _sometimes…"

* * *

"I voted for Grace," Zack stated. "Do I even need to explain why?"

* * *

"I used to think Zack was pretty cool," Trent mused, looking disappointed. "But after seeing that video clip… Seeing how he screamed at a sweet girl like Selena… Well, that just changed how I saw him completely." He shook his head. "Not cool, man. I just hope Gwen doesn't find out that I voted off her own brother…"

* * *

"I'm just gonna cut to the chase, because this is getting way too tedious," Chris explained. "Cody and Grace are safe."

"What?" Selena and Zack simultaneously yelled as Chris tossed the other two their marshmallows. They exchanged a fearful glance, knowing one of them was leaving the island forever…

"That's right, guys!" Chris exclaimed. "Not so calm, cool and collected now, are you Baby Abondoner and Yelly McYellerton?"

"B-b-b-but-" Selena stuttered nervously, loking from Zack, to the marshmallow Chris held up , then back to Zack.

"The final marshmallow…. Of the night…"

Zack covered his eyes and Selena gripped her stomach, feeling like she was going to throw up.

"Gooooooooes toooooooo….

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"Selena."

"WHAT?" Selena bounced up, the marshmallow hitting her square in the forehead as Chris tossed it to her. "No… No!" She turned to everybody and asked, "Why'd you vote him off? Why? You should have voted _me_ off! I'm the one who neglected him and Danny!** I'M** the one who deserves to be sent away!"

"Yeah, you _do_ deserve to be voted off," Gwen agreed bitterly. "Zack didn't do anything wrong. Why did everybody vote him off?"

"We saw the way that jerk screamed at her!" Marilee yelled from the sidelines. "He had to go!" She looked over to Keith, who was trying to keep his distance from her for now, and growled. "And he's not the only one…"

"What? …No, that was a misunderstanding! We worked it out and.. And…" Selena whined, looking ready to cry. "H-How did you guys even find out about that?"

_Flashback: That Same Day, Just Two Hours Before the Ceremony_

"_-and Marilee, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-"_

"_SHUT UP, GUYS!"_

_Jovie leaned against Geoff for support as both of them laughed wildly. "I-I-I'm sorry, sis," Geoff apologized in between laughs. "But how could we resist?"_

"_Hey, guys," Trent greeted, walking up to the group. "What're you guys up to?"_

"_Oh, nothing," Jovie giggled. "Just gangin' up on Marilee about her new _boyfriend_!"_

"_I hate you two," she muttered, right before something in her skirt pocket vibrated. She pulled out a cell phone and saw that she had a text message. As she read it, she mumbled, "Huh, that's weird…"_

"_What's weird?" Trent asked._

"_Chris sent me a text. With a video clip attached…"_

"_It's probably a clip of you sucking face with Keith," Jovie said._

"_Still hate you," Marilee told her with false cheer._

_The teens gathered around as she opened the clip. The one-sided fight scene between Zack and Selena popped up. None of them had seen it in person, so they were all shocked by what they saw. _

"_I… I can't believe him," Jovie whispered._

"_How could he just yell at her like that?" Trent asked, looking a little miffed._

"_He… He made her _cry_!" Geoff gasped._

"_Hi, guys. Whatcha looking at?"_

_The group looked up to find Zack and Selena. Their eyes narrowed when they saw Zack., acting like nothing had happened. They went back to looking at the clip without another word._

_End Flashback_

"Chris send me the video of Zack's little fit," Marilee explained, still not looking convinced. She suddenly looked guilty, bit her lip and added, "And I might have shown it to a couple of people…"

"What can I say?" Chris shrugged, grinning. "It was too great not to share with you guys!"

Selena growled and went to tackle Chris, but DJ held her back. "Make us retake the vote! Zack should stay! You made that fight look way worse than it was!"

"Sorry, but them's the rules," Chris said, shrugging. "Zack got voted out fair and square. Maybe next time, you shouldn't make a guy snap under baby pressure."

Selena panted in anger, but it quickly flashed to one of pure misery. DJ let her go and she flew over to Zack, death-hugging him. "Oh, Zack! This… this… This is all my fault! I'm so sorry!"

Zack, who had been awfully quiet up until then, pulled Selena off of her and looked her deep in the eyes. "Selena, listen to me. You did something wrong, I'll admit that, but I did something much more wrong. I should have talked things out with you more maturely." He stood up, taking Selena up with him. "This might be good for me, for… us." They both grinned a little when he said 'us', both knowing very well what he meant by that. "Maybe the reason why I got so angry was because this place was getting to me in ways I didn't even understand…"

"But… but…" Zack held a finger up to quiet her.

"This is probably for the best. I've caused a ton of drama between you and your brother. That isn't right."

She started to cry and turned to Duncan. "This is all your fault, then!" she angrily screamed.

"No, no, no!" Zack spun her back around. "Don't you see? This all happened because of fighting! You were fighting Courtney and Duncan's relationship this whole three days and look what's happened! Selena…" His expression softened and he rubbed her back soothingly to stop her small sobs. "Selena… Just promise…" He brought his voice down to a whisper and continued, "Promise me that you'll lighten up on this grudge you've got against Courtney. Please. I want you to make it all the way to the end, and having any grudges won't help you at all."

Selena looked over at Courtney, who actually looked sympathetic for what was happening to her. She looked back to Zack and nodded. "I promise."

Duncan got up and walked over to the two. "I gotta admit, dude… You're alright." He patted him on the shoulder and smiled at him.

"Thanks, Duncan." Zack smiled. "Well, I guess I'd better get on the boat…" He leaned toward Selena, his lips puckered.

Duncan's eyes widened and he pushed the younger boy away from his sister. "Whoa, man! I said you were alright, I didn't say you were a freaking saint!"

Pouting, Selena whined, "Duuuncaaan!"

The punk looked between the two, then sighed and walked away. "Fine. Just as long as you don't do it in front of me…"

Zack and Selena turned back to each other and Zack gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek.

The rest of the campers 'aww'ed at the cute display, and the two gave each other one last hug before Zack headed toward the Dock of Shame. A few of the others followed, including Selena. Zack hopped onto the Boat and Chef quickly pulled away from the dock.

The remaining campers waved goodbye to him. Selena also waved, another small tear trickling down her cheek. She tried her best to smile at him as he faded away.

Courtney slowly approached the blonde. All of the tension she had felt about her had disappeared after those past few dramatic minutes. She felt really guilty for voting for her, now… But still, she had deserved it. She placed a hand gingerly on her small shoulder, giving it a supportive squeeze.

Selena looked over at Courtney, who was now offering her a small smile. A wave of guilt flooded over her as she realized something. This was the girl she had been bickering with for the past couple of days. The girl she thought wasn't good enough for her brother. The girl she hated so much. And now that same girl was trying to help mend her broken heart.

Selena clung onto Courtney, silently crying on her shoulder. All the brunette did was hug back.

She still wasn't ready to forgive Selena, and Selena surely wasn't ready, or willing, to apologize. But for now, the comfort was much appreciated.

*T*S*R*

The Wolves had all gone to bed. Everybody, especially Selena, was exhausted. Candace would have stayed to wait for Geoff, but she wanted to freshen up a bit before their date.

"Well, that was fun, wasn't it?" Chris asked the Wolves, smiling away like nothing super dramatic had just happened.

"Shut it, McLean," Marilee snapped. "It's your fault we all saw that clip and got mad enough at Zack to vote him off in the first place. That's the reason why you let us vote with them tonight, isn't it? You're such a creep!"

Chris glared at her. "No need to play the blame game. You didn't have to show the clip to people, you Keith kisser!"

Marilee opened her mouth, but shut it. She didn't want to say anything she would regret.

"So, are you guys ready for your prize?" After getting wild cheers in response, he added, "Well, you guys are really going to love this one. We went all out!"

He walked over to a humungous thing hidden under a huge sheet and gestured to it extravagantly. "Rabid Wolves, you all have won…" He yanked the sheet off and yelled, "A deluxe cabin!"

The campers gasped as the saw their new cabin. The wood wasn't dry-rotted like their current one. In fact, the wood looked brand-spanking new. It had to have been twice as big as their current cabin, too. It was… beautiful.

"This state of the art cabin has everything a hard-working camper could want!" Chris cheered, patting the side of the building. "It includes air conditioning, and heat for those extra cold nights, bunks made in _this_ century with the finest linens, and not to mention… Satellite television!"

* * *

"Finally… finally after all this torture," LeShawna excitedly said, hands clasped in praise. "We finally get something worth while out of it!"

* * *

As the Wolves cheered their heads off at their awesome prize, Chris added, "Now, I'll get the crane and move this awesome new cabin over where your old piece of crap is. For now, you guys can just-"

"AAAHHHHH!"

Everybody turned their attention toward Owen, who was running from the outhouse to the campfire pit. "Izzy! Izzy!" He pulled her toward him and screamed in her face, "Malik's giving me the farts and I don't know what to do!"

"Big whoop," Marilee said, rolling her eyes. "You fart all the time. Why is this news to any of us?"

"You guys don't understand!" Owen whined, clutching his gurgling stomach. "These are really, _really_ bad ones!"

"Dude, you must have never smelled one," DJ said. "Trust me, they're _all _really bad…"

"Oooooh…" Owen waddled over to the campfire, trying his best to hold it in. "I feel a really bad one coming up!"

Geoff, appearing nonchalant, looked around, then paled when he realized something. Owen's back was facing the back of the bonfire, which was in front of their new cabin. Almost as if in slow motion, Geoff gasped and yelled "Dude, nooooo!"

But it was too late. Owen let one fly, and the blow of toxic fumes right next to the fire created a huge inferno and torched their new cabin completely.

All of the poor campers gaped at the ashes of what had been their fabulous prize. As the last fiery ember fell to the ground, all of them turned to glare at Owen.

The big teen sheepishly grinned and laughed. "Sorry, guys!"

"Sorry?" Marilee questioned. "You destroy the single coolest reward in the history of this torture hole of a show, and all you are is sorry?"

"Um…" Owen thought it over and nodded. "Yes."

Geoff had to grab her wrists and Herbie and Xavier clung to her legs to keep her from pouncing on and killing him.

After Owen had sprinted as quickly away as his stubby legs could take him, Marilee stopped resisting and the boys let her go. "So… I'm guessing you're not going to buy us a new one, huh?" she asked Chris.

Chirs shook his head, looking pretty ticked off that that expensive cabin had just been wasted.

"Didn't think so," Marilee sighed exhaustedly. "I'm going to bed." She started walking toward their lame old cabin, most of the others following.

As they made their way around the charred wood and half-melted plasma screen TV, Candace passed them, all dolled up in a light yellow sundress. She noticed their sour moods, not to mention the ashes. She walked over to Geoff and asked, "What are they so grumpy about? And what's up with the debris?"

Geoff sighed. "I don't wanna talk about it right now." Perking right back up, he added, "But enough with the negative vibes. Let's get going!"

Giggling, Candace said, "Okay! What are we gonna do first?"

Geoff linked arms with her and lead her away, toward the forest. "Wherever the night takes us, milady…"

* * *

*gets tons of flames from Zack/Selena fans*

Sorry, guys! I'm not happy about it either! But if you think this is the last of Zac/Zaclena you've seen, then you are terribly wrong!

_Votes (Doing it TDC style from now on!)_

_Candace- Selena_

_Courtney- Selena_

_Cody- Zack_

_DJ- Zack_

_Duncan- Grace_

_Geoff- Zack_

_Grace- Zack_

_Gwen- Selena_

_Heather- Zack_

_Herbie- Selena_

_Izzy- Grace_

_Jovie- Zack_

_Keith- Selena_

_LeShawna- Cody _

_Marilee- Zack_

_Owen- Zack_

_Selena- Grace_

_Trent- Zack_

_Xavier- Selena_

_Zack-Grace_

_Zoey- Zack_

Cody- 1

Grace- 4

Selena- 6

**Zack- 10**


	26. Day 11, Part 1: Prison Break

Hey. Happy New Challenge Day.

*glared down*

Yeah, you guys are still mad about the Zack thing, aren't you?

*silence*

You still are. Look, I'm not happy about it, either. It HAD to be done. And, like I said at the end of the last chapter, that was NOT the last you'll see of him.

There's a TDA quote in here, too. Hooray for plagarism :D

Anyway, onto the new challenge. Read, review and enjoy! :D

* * *

Breakfast was very quiet. And awkward.

After what had happened last night, none of them knew how to react to Selena when she finally arrived.

Marilee felt guilty for causing it. Geoff, Zoey, and all the others who had voted Zack off felt just as guilty. Even Courtney felt a little guilty, and she didn't even like Selena.

Gwen and Grace were the exception; Gwen because she was still mad at her for making Zack do all the work with the baby, and Grace because she really didn't care.

* * *

"Okay, I'm getting ready to go to breakfast," Selena explained to the camera, not expressing any general emotion. "Before I do, I just wanted to stop by and say something. Zack… I really hope you're watching right now, because what I'm going to do is all for you. You all know about my… dislike of Courtney, right? Of course you do.

"Anyway, Zack made me promise to be nicer to her, so I'm going to try and do that. _Try_. And I'm not doing it for me, for Courtney or even for Duncan. I'm doing it for Zack. It's the least I owe you. Miss you…" She blew a kiss to the camera and giggled.

* * *

Selena walked into the mess hall, and all the general chatter had been silenced. Selena looked around, realizing that they were all looking at her. She should have seen that coming…

"You can stop staring, guys," she told them, putting her hands on her hips. "I'm not going to explode or anything. I'm fine, okay?"

Nobody answered. She merely took that as an acceptance of her explanation. She grabbed her breakfast mush and the chatter started back up once they saw that she really wouldn't explode.

Selena took an empty seat across from Courtney. "H-Hi, Courtney."

Courtney took a look at Selena and her unusual friendliness toward her. "Hello…"

"How are you this morning?"

"Fine… Selena, are you okay?"

_What, now something has to be wrong when one of us acts __**pleasantly**__ toward the other? _Selena screamed in her mind. Her composure on the outside, however, remained calm. "No… I'm fine."

Courtney looked very suspicious, but shrugged it off and looked around. One of their teammates was missing. She saw that Owen, scarfing down his breakfast, was next to her, so she asked, "Hey, have you seen your sister?"

Owen shook his head. "Nope, not really."

"Maybe she slept in," Gwen suggested. "She's probably tired from her date with Mr. Never-Ending-Party."

"What?" he asked, like that was the first he had heard of it. "Candace went on a _date_? With _Geoff_?"

"Yeah…" Gwen slowly said. "Why? She didn't tell you?"

"No…" Owen was silent for a minute. "My sister's dating one of my best buddies… That's… That's…" He broke out in a huge grin and yelled, "That's AWESOME!" He bolted up and ran out. "I've gotta go congratulate them! Later!"

"Well… That's not going to end well," Trent commented. "I think I have a pretty good idea of why Candace didn't tell Owen about it…"

*T*S*R*

Candace, all dressed and ready for the day, stepped outside, ready to head out to breakfast. She saw that Geoff was waiting for her outside the cabin. "Hey!" he greeted.

"Hi!" she perkily greeted back, bouncing over to him. "Whatcha doing out here?"

"Waiting to go to breakfast with you," Geoff answered, grinning.

"Aww, you're sweet," Candace giggled. "I had a lot of fun last night."

"Same here."

"You sure know how to show a girl a good time," she commented. "We should do it again sometime."

"Totally." Both smiled at each other sweetly, until a thunderous shaking of the earth interrupted their moment. They turned to find Owen charging toward them, then gathering them up in a giant bear hug.

"WHOO!" Owen yelled right in their ears. "You two are going out now, aren't you? That's awesome! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Th-_This_ is why…" Candace managed to choke out. Owen released them and Candace blushed furiously, trying her best to bear a smile. It looked strained, though. "Owen… Geoff and I went on _one _date… We… We aren't technically 'going out' or anything…"

"But… You _will_ be, right?" Owen asked.

Geoff looked just as embarrassed as Candace. "Um… I dunno, dude. We had fun, but… That doesn't mean…We might not ever-

"Nah, you totally will," Owen interrupted joyously. "Just think, Geoff…" Owen slung an arm around his shoulder. "One day, you and I will be in-laws!"

That statement almost made Geoff faint. "Uh… Yeah… That's be really… Cool."

"Owen…" Candace slowly said, trying her best to stay smiling. "Could you… You know, let us have some time alone together?"

"How can you be alone when you're together?" he asked, confuzzled. Blinking, he said, "Ooooh, I get it…" He nudged Geoff and winked. "Wink wink, nudge nudge." He chuckled and started walking off. "Don't have too much fun, you guys!"

Once he left, Geoff and Candace just stared at each other, too embarrassed to speak. "Wow… Your brother sure knows how to make a morning really…" He struggled to find the right word.

"Awkward?" Candace suggested, her smile disappearing.

"…Yeah."

"AAAHHH!"

Both turned around to find Owen running toward them, fear in his eyes. A furious Marilee was chasing him, waving a blue high heel wedge at him. "Get back here, you big, fat moron!" She jumped on his back and started beating him on his head with the shoe, his pained screams only making her hit harder.

"Marilee!" Geoff pulled his sister off of him, trying to get her to stop. "Your therapist says you're not allowed to attack people with your footwear anymore!"

"Charlie's amazing cabin didn't get burned down by that huge fart machine!" Marilee argued, still trying to hit Owen with her shoe. Luckily, Geoff was holding her back.

"Are… Are you still mad about that?" Owen whimpered, hiding behind Candace, who wasn't a very good shield for the big guy.

"No…" Marilee laughed, appearing to have calmed down. "I'm just trying to kill you with my favorite pair of wedges," Her eyes narrowed and she yelled," because the mess hall WAS OUT OF DECAF COFFEE!" She finally snapped, flinging her shoe at him. She missed miserably, but he still started bawling.

As Candace tried to calm him down, Geoff grabbed Marilee by the shoulders. "Marilee, you seriously need to chill out…"

Marilee's lips tightened into a pout. "No." She took off her other shoe, aiming at Owen's back. Geoff snatched it from her. "Hey, give that back!"

"No! If you're going to use them for wailing on my buddy, then you lose your shoe privileges for the day!" Geoff tossed the shoe behind his back to make sure she couldn't get it back from him. He heard an 'Ouch!' and more loud bawling from Owen.

Marilee couldn't help but grin. "Nice aim, bro. You didn't even have to look to hit him in the nose like that." Geoff cringed, not even daring to look behind him. "Can I have my shoes back now?"

"Fine…As long as you stop using them for evil…"

*T*S*R*

The four of them had finally started heading toward the mess hall to get their breakfast. Well, Owen wanted to get seconds… Having Marilee glare at him the entire trek there made him extra hungry.

Once Marilee had her tray of mush, she sat down and started sculpting something with it on her plate. It appeared to be Owen's head. With one mighty slam of her spoon, she managed to smash the poor oatmeal Owen into a big, mushy puddle.

"Wow… Harshness," Keith said as he saw her actions, sitting next to her with a glass of orange juice.

"Don't even talk to me," Marilee huffed, resting her chin in her hand, avoiding looking at him.

Keith took a sip of his juice, then observed her. "Marilee… What happened?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, stirring her oatmeal as a way to avoid looking at him.

"What happened yesterday… We were getting along so well." He sighed and continued, "I mean… Until we almost… And then we actually _did_… Well, _you_ did, but-"

Before he could finish, someone came crashing through the window. The mystery man, who was dressed up as a police officer, jumped between the tables and took a threatening stance. "You all are under arrest!" He pulled out a very threatening object.

"He's got a gun!" Jovie screamed. The campers started freaking out and Keith was so freaked out, he dumped his entire glass of orange juice on Marilee, who was too busy hiding under the tables like everyone else to care. The only ones who stayed seated were Duncan and Izzy.

"Hey, Chris," Duncan greeted nonchalantly.

"Is that a real gun?" Izzy asked. "That's so cool! Hey, have you ever seen _Wanted_? Try to curve a bullet around my head! That would be sooo awesome!"

Chris got up and shrugged. "All right." He shot at her, but all that hit her was a stream of water. Izzy pouted, glaring daggers at him. "What?" He stopped soaking her forehead with his water pistol. "Did you honestly think the producers would actually let me carry around a _real_ gun? _Kids_ watch this show, dude!"

"What a rip-off," Izzy muttered. "You could have at least made that stream of water curve around my head…"

"What's with the get-up?" Gwen asked Chris. "Has Halloween come early this year? Or did your personal fashion consultant decide that that was a good look for you?"

"Unfortunately, no," Chris answered, tucking the water gun back in its pouch. "This very flattering police officer's uniform is all part of today's challenge. The name of the game is Prison Break!"

"We get to escape the island?" Duncan asked. "This place is very prison-like. Lousy food, terrible living arrangements. Only difference is that the toilets here aren't in our rooms and they have doors in front of them."

"No, my former Juvie punk, you will not be escaping from here," Chris started, pulling a piece of paper out of his back pocket. "You'll be escaping from the heavily guarded prison on…" He unrolled the paper, revealing the infamous neighbor island to Wawanakwa. "Boney Island!"

"Since when does Boney Island have a building of any kind on it?" Heather skeptically asked.

"Since about two days ago," Chris answered, pointing to an arrow he had added on the map to point out where the new prison was. "You guys didn't notice the faint construction noises over the past few days?"

"We thought it was a recording you played every night to annoy us," DJ admitted.

"Right…" Chris' smile disappeared. "Anyway, there will be a boat completely on the other side of the island from the prison. Your mission is to escape from jail, make it through the island without being killed, and get the most teammates- I mean, inmates- there without being captured. The boat will leave at nine o' clock tonight and take you back to the island."

"Who's capturing us?" LeShawna asked. "You?"

"C'ya right!" Chris scoffed. "No… You'll find out soon enough…" He whipped out a walkie talkie and said, "Chef, I'm gonna need backup with the fugitives in here…"

Since Chef had just been in the kitchen, he rushed out, carrying a bunch of handcuffs and two piles of clothing. He was dressed like a prison warden.

"You're going to cuff us?" Selena gasped.

"Not yet, but yeah," Chris said, grinning again. "Just until we get you guys locked up, though. You all have ten minutes to get dressed until it's time to shackle up."

Chef tossed one pile of the clothing to Duncan and the other to Geoff. "Move it, you slime balls!"

"Orange? Is that all you have?" Candace asked as she took one of the jumpsuits. "Do have anything in a robin's egg blue?" She giggled and added, "That color looks totally amazing on me."

"… No."

"BLACK AND WHITE STRIPES?" Marilee screamed, grabbing a jumpsuit from Geoff and holding it as far away from her as possible, like she thought it would bite her. "Are you trying to kill me?"

"Um… no," Chris slowly responded, because he actually had to think that answer out.

*T*S*R*

The new 'prisoners' had gotten dressed. Jovie practically had to dress Marilee herself because she refused to put the ugly jumpsuit on. However, it was on her, and she had been cuffed by Chef like everybody else. Their mug shots had been taken and they were now getting on the boat one by one.

Chris was taking up most of the camera space, but there was enough room to see each camper step on the large boat that was to take them to Boney Island. He held up Candace's mug shot and told the camera, "The first inmate is Candace. Arrested for excessive smiling. We knew she must have been up to no good."

As she stepped on, he flipped to the next mug shot, which was Courtney's. "Courtney, for nagging in a non-nagging zone.

"Cody, doing time for careless baby-dropping during the last challenge.

"Inmate 4, DJ. Reckless tenderheartedness and bunny-petting. He's lucky no one died.

"Duncan… Just let your imagination wander with this one. I'm sure whatever you come up with, he did it.

"Geoff for excessive partying and abuse of the word 'dude'.

"The next inmate, Grace, is in for getting away with murder… literally." He laughed and added, "Nah, not really! But still, she could get away with it if she tried.

"Gwen's heading to the big house for indecent public Gothiness. And for making fun of me with every chance she gets.

"Next up is Heather. Arrested for changing her sinister ways. Now this show's only, like, half as dramatic! Ratings have plummeted!

"Herbie and Xavier, arrested for being very easy to confuse with each other.

"Izzy… Same thing I said about Duncan.

"Jovie, arrested for protesting against our cruelty to animals. And our contestants.

"Keith's going to the slammer for illegal flirting and eyebrow waggling. That's Cody's thing, man!

"LeShawna, for being too loud and proud.

"Marilee…" He held up her mug shot next, where she was scowling deeply, due to her ugly attire. "Arrested for a crime to fashion. Literally. She tried to kill Owen with one of her shoes…

"Speaking of Owen, he was arrested for smuggling illegal snack cakes and sodas into camp. And he didn't share them with me.

"Next up, Selena. Baby abandonment, domestic violence toward a sibling, and getting a new beau without a license, all during the last challenge! She's got quite a list!

"Trent, for exceeding the coolness limit. And having more fan girls than me.

"And finally, Zoey, who's doing her time for being far too cute. I mean, look at her! She's cuter than a puppy! I almost thought she _was _one when I first saw her!"

After they were all seated, Chris tucked the mug shots under his arm and hopped on the boat, it taking off as soon as he did.

*T*S*R*

"Are we there yet?" Zoey asked. She was squirming uncomfortably in her seat because she didn't like her hands being cuffed behind her back. But who would?

"No, Zoey," Selena, seated to her left, answered, not really enjoying the handcuffs either.

"… Are we there now?" Zoey asked after a few seconds.

Duncan, seated to her right, grumbled, "No, Zoey." He didn't seem to mind the handcuffs at all. It was his youngest sister's pestering that was really bugging him.

"… Are we-"

"YES, ZOEY! We're there, okay?" Duncan snapped, not being able to take her questions anymore.

Zoey looked around and blinked. She gasped, realizing they were not actually there. "Hey, you lied!"

"We're here!" Chris announced, opening the doors to the boat so they could get out.

"Oh…" Zoey blinked again, hopping off of her seat. "I guess you weren't…"

"Move it, maggots!" Chef barked, standing in the back of the line. He accidentally kicked Grace, who was last in line, and made her bump into the back of Trent's legs. She turned to the large cook and growled, right before she bit him in the shin.

"Yeouch! Get this crazy kid off me!" He shook his leg violently, but that only made her bite harder.

Trent turned around, seeing what was going on. "Grace, stop that!"

Grace did as she was told, but not before glaring up at Chef. She kept walking, while Chef stayed behind a bit to tend to his wounds.

"Man, that kid gives me the willies…" Chef shivered.

Chris cocked an eyebrow. "Wow. That says a lot about her scariness level, doesn't it?"

*T*S*R*

"Welcome to the Boney Island Correctional Center, annexes A and B!" Chris lead the group to the other end of the island, where there was a huge building, shaped like a giant V. One end of the building had an A over the entrance, with the Rabid Wolves team symbol on the door. The other end was identical, only with a B and the Killer Bears symbol. It was surrounded by a huge electrical fence that was topped off with barbed wire.

"You managed to get all _this _built in a mere two days?" Courtney gasped, gaping at the huge prison before them. "How did you pull that off?"

Chris smiled cheekily. "When you're Chris McLean, anything is possible. Now then, you orange suits go in the right wing. Black and White Stripes, you go in the left. You will each be locked in individual cells. It's up to you to escape and release your comrades while the wardens, being Chef and I, are on break…

"From there, you have a laser sensor system that could chop you in half to deal with, along with this electric fence, and the trek to the boat on the other side of the island… There's more to it than that, but you'll figure that out on your own soon enough… Time to lock 'em up, Cheffy!" Chris lead the Killer Bears to their side of the building, while Chef took care of the Rabid Wolves.

*T*S*R*

Once they made it all the way to the end of their side of the building, which was where the cells were, Chris unlocked their handcuffs and made sure each got into their own jail cells.

"Okay, jailbirds, now the challenge can officially begin…" Chris swung the keys around his finger smugly. "You have to manage to get each and every one of your teammates out before you can actually escape. So good luck with that. I have urgent business to attend to."

"Late for your pedicure?" Gwen asked, leaning against the metal bars, looking bored.

"No!" Chris crossed his arms and pouted. "It's a manicure…" He hung the keys to the cells up on a hook by the exit, then walked off, shutting the door behind him.

*T*S*R*

"You'll never take me alive!" Izzy shrieked, pounding on Chef's back as he flung her over his shoulder and hauled her into the cell himself, since she was refusing to go in. Even a muscular guy like Chef had trouble containing her. He threw her on the hard floor and sprinted out, locking her inside. "Your bars cannot hold me, you foolish fool!" She rattled the bars, but to no avail.

"Quiet down, you crazy cake!" Chef tossed the keys onto the hook by the exit and barked, "Y'all know what to do. Escape, get to the boat, and blah blah blah. So get choppin', maggots!" He left, slamming the door.

"… So, what the heck are we supposed to do now?" Jovie asked, running her finger along a crack in the concrete wall in her cell.

"Find a way to escape, I suppose," DJ responded, looking a little timid from being in such a scary place.

LeShawna slid down the wall she was leaning on and took a seat. She looked over at Izzy's cell, which was diagonal to hers. "Izzy, you're good at getting out of situations like this. Any ideas, girl?"

Izzy, who had calmed down after a while, tapped her chin and said, "I don't know. These cells are a lot like all the other places I've been locked up in…" She grinned wickedly. "So it shouldn't be too hard to get out." She wiggled one of the bars. "Sturdy… But not sturdy enough to hold me…" She stuck a hand down her jumpsuit and dug around, pulling out a utensil. "Luckily, I smuggled this spoon in from breakfast this morning!" She started hitting the bars with it, and the spoon snapped in two after the fifth slap. "Curses!"

"… You do realize that that was a _plastic_ spoon, right?" Keith, in the other cell diagonal to hers, asked.

Izzy snapped her fingers and muttered, "Rats, you're right! I should have gotten a spork!"

"What you should have gotten is some Ritalin," Marilee muttered, sitting on the ground in the cell across from Izzy's, filing her nails.

Izzy stared at her. Not because she was offended, but because she had something she wanted. "Where'd you get that nail file?"

"I smuggled it in here like you did with your spoon of wonders," she responded, admiring her freshly filed nails. "I figured being in jail was murder on your nails."

"Lemme see it! Pretty please?"

Marilee shrugged, nodding. "Sure. I'm done, anyway."

She placed the file on the floor and slid it under the bars and over to Izzy's cell. The redhead snatched it and grinned wildly. As she started filing the bottom of one of the bars and said, "Don't worry, guys! Izzy will have you out in no time!"

"We're doomed," LeShawna sighed.

*T*S*R*

"I demand a lawyer!" Courtney yelled, rattling the bars of her cell. "You can't lock me up in here! I have been wrongfully imprisoned!"

_Oh, my gosh. Would you shut up with your lawyer crap already, you freckle-faced pain in the butt? _Instead of saying this out loud, Selena cleared her throat and calmly said, "You don't need to worry, Courtney. This is just part of the challenge. I don't think this will actually show up in any future records."

Courtney would have eyed her in suspicion, but she couldn't, since Selena was in the cell to the right of hers.

* * *

"Why is Selena being so nice to me all of the sudden?" Courtney, still dressed in her prison garb, asked. "She was never this nice to me before, not even before everybody knew she hated me." Her eyes narrowed. "She's up to something, and I'm going to find out what…"

* * *

"So, Duncan," Selena started, looking to the cell across from her, where her brother was. "Know how to get us out of here, yet?"

Duncan shook his head. "Not yet. Almost there, though. Shouldn't be too hard."

"Yeah," Heather agreed, nodding. "Good thing we've got the ex-con on our team."

"It was only juvenile detention," Duncan explained. "Don't get _too_ excited. Juvie doesn't have laser sensors, so I'm clueless when it comes to that."

"Let's cross that bridge when we get to it," Gwen said. "Right now, we've got to figure out how we're going to get out of here."

Heather, who was in the cell next to the wall where Chris hung the keys up, thought up an idea. "Guys, I think I might be able to reach the keys!" She stood up, reaching toward the wall. She clawed toward the keys, but her arms were a few inches too short. "C'mon, c'mon…" Sighing, she stopped and sat back down. "No use."

"Are you _ever _of any use?" Gwen scoffed, rolling her eyes.

* * *

"I really wish Gwen would stop putting me down all the time," Heather said, looking depressed. "I've apologized to her so many times, yet she's still so merciless!" Resting her chin in her hand, she sighed, "Guess it'll take more than just an apology to get her to forgive me…"

* * *

"You guys figure out what to do…" Zoey was wiggling around, the universal body language for having to go to the bathroom. "I gotta go…" She walked over to the bars and slowly poked her head through the opening. She pushed and pushed and pushed… With one final shove, she squirmed her tiny body out of the cell entirely, walking toward the exit.

The others gaped as she walked past them and toward the exit. "Zoey!" Heather gasped, getting on her knees.

Zoey looked over at her, confused as to why she was so shocked. "Do you have to go pee, too? I think your head is too big to get out like I did…"

Ignoring Gwen's laughter, Heather leaned closer to Zoey and said, "Before you… um… 'go', I need you to do something for me."

"Okay!" Zoey nodded. "What?"

"I'm going to lift you up, and you're going to reach out and grab those keys, so the rest of us can get out." Heather pointed to the keys so the younger girl could see. "Sound good?"

"Okay!" Heather grabbed her and stood up, making sure not to hit her head against her bars. She leaned forward as far as she could toward the wall, extending Zoey toward the keys. She grabbed them with ease and Heather placed her back down so she could grab the keys. As the raven haired teen unlocked her cell and slid the bars away, the rest of their team cheered.

"Way to go, Zoey!" Heather headed toward Trent's cell and unlocked it. "You saved the day!"

"Can I go now?"

"Sure, we'll catch up with you later," Duncan said after he stepped out of his cell, which had just been unlocked by Heather.

"Wait, she can't be running around alone!" Courtney protested, while Heather unlocked her and released her. "I'll go with her…"

She ran over, opened the door, and Zoey sprinted out of there and toward the nearest bathroom, Courtney not far behind her, telling her to slow down.

"Great idea, Courtney!" Selena yelled as they scurried off, a forced smile on her face. "You such a considerate and valuable member of this team!"

*T*S*R*

After filing for a very long time, Izzy finally managed to get through enough so she could do something. She flung the nail file back to Marilee and laid on her back, propping herself with her arms so she could see what she was doing.. Rearing her legs back, she started rapidly kicking the bar. It bent a little farther back with each kick, and she kept kicking until it was back far enough for her to crawl through the opening.

Izzy sprinted over to the set of keys and swiped them from the hook. "Victory belongs to E-Scope!"

"E-Scope?" Geoff questioned. "Where did _that _come from?"

Izzy shrugged as she unlocked his cell. "It's short for Kaleidoscope. I tried to get that new name started at the end of last season. It never caught on." She slid the door open and added, "I'm trying to get it started back up this time around!"

Izzy ran over to the next cell and Geoff stepped out, not really knowing how to respond to that. "Uh… Okay, cool."

*T*S*R*

After Heather unlocked Gwen's cell, who only grunted in gratitude, the freshly released campers ran out the door and down the corridor, until they reached an array of criss-crossed laser sensors.

Courtney and Zoey, with an empty bladder, caught up to them. "Ooooh, those are pretty," Zoey commented, walking toward them.

"Zoey, no!" Courtney grabbed her by the wrist, keeping her away from the lasers. "Those things could hurt you!" She looked up at her boyfriend and asked, "Any ideas, Duncan?"

Duncan shrugged. "I have about as many as you do. I've never even dealt with something like this before."

"What?" Owen gasped in surprise. "You mean there have never been sensors like this at the banks you've robbed or the jewelry stores you've heisted?"

Duncan looked at him like he was insane. "Dude, I'm a juvenile delinquent, not Al Capone."

Squinting his eyes, Cody noticed something by the exit on the other side of the sensors. "Hey, look!" He pointed to a huge switch by the door. "That must turn them off."

"How are we supposed to get over there to flip the switch?" Trent asked.

Candace scratched her chin, observing the sensors. She held her hands out, forming a square with her fingers and shut one eye, as if focusing extremely hard on the beams of dangerous light before her. She smirked, snapping her fingers. "I've got it!" She started stretching while the others stared at her, wondering what the heck she was doing. The strawberry blonde stood up straight again and started taking deep even breaths to brace herself for what she was about to do. She put on a big, cheerleader-like smile and clapped her hands. "Ready? Okay!"

"You're going to _cheerlead _your way across those lasers?" Duncan cocked his unibrow and added, "Nice knowing you, sunshine…"

Candace braced herself, then started running toward the lasers. As soon as she got to the first laser, she started doing some back flips, gracefully missing each and every laser she passed. In mid air, she tucked her knees into her torso, gliding past the more tightly packed sensors. She untucked her knees, ended with a toe touch jump and landed on the other side of the lasers with a split.

There was not a jaw in the entire corridor that was not dropped.

Candace made her way back onto her feet and flipped the switch. Her teammates didn't budge. "What?" she giggled, flipping her high ponytail. "Haven't you ever seen a girl hurkey her way across a laser sensor system?"

"… I can honestly say I haven't," Duncan responded, gaping. He couldn't help but look impressed, however.

* * *

"Whoa, and I always thought Candace was just a pretty face," Duncan mused. "Girl's got guts _and_ bounce. It would have been better if it had been Courtney, though…" He smirked as he considered the thought. "Oh, yeah. That would have been niiice…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

After Izzy had released them all, the Rabid Wolves raced down their corridor and skidded to a halt once they reached their set of bright red lasers.

"Know how to get us through this one, sis?" Xavier asked Izzy.

Herbie yanked a hair out of his head and wandered toward the first beam. He dropped the hair watched it sizzle as it hit the laser. "Yeah, this looks pretty bad…"

"Maybe…" Izzy tapped her chin, thinking. "Maybe one of us could, like, flip their way through the cracks between the lasers. And maybe do some cool tucky flippy things, almost like some wicked cheerleading routine!"

"Izzy," LeShawna started, putting her hands on her hips. "That has got to be one of the craziest, most dangerous, totally impossible maneuvering techniques I have ever heard. Seriously, how do you come up with this stuff? That sounds like something from a bad fanfic written by some freaky little white girl!"

Marilee, looking deep in thought, got on her knees and felt the ground. The floors were new, since the building had just been built several days ago, so they were very smooth. She then looked at the lasers. They were about two feet above the ground; too short for somebody, even Herbie or Xavier, to crawl through. She stood back up and walked away from the group, back toward where they had started.

Geoff looked to the side, noticing his sister was gone. "Mari?" He turned around and saw her walking away. "Hey, where ya going, sis?"

Marilee didn't stop, turn around, or even answer him. Once she reached the end of the corridor, right by the entrance to the wing that contained their cells, she turned around, a determined look on her face. She started charging toward them again, which attracted the attention of her entire team. After she was about five feet away, she flopped onto her belly and, arms stretch out in front of her, slid under the lasers perfectly. There was a small sizzle heard, but Marilee made it successfully to the other side with out harming herself.

As her teammates cheered for her, she stood up and turned her back to them to flip the switch to the security system. The entire group gasped as they saw the lasers had affected her in a way she hadn't noticed. In a very comical way. There was much lip biting and mouth covering as to control themselves from laughing. It was finally too much for them and they gave up their self control, practically falling to the ground laughing.

Once she turned the sensor system off, Marilee heard their giggles and turned around to look at them. "What? What's so funny?"

The camera panned into on her backside, revealing that one of the lasers had gotten too close to her and had singed the seat of her jumpsuit and exposing her butt completely.

"C'mon, tell me what's so funny!" Marilee pleaded, looking upset that she wasn't in on whatever the joke was.

"No… No, it's nothing," DJ laughed, wiping a tear away.

"Yeah…" Jovie nodded, giggling. "We all just need to calm down and… turn the other cheek!"

The entire team, sans Marilee, burst out into another fit of laughter, only confusing Marilee even more.

"Yeah… Whatever, Chuckleheads…." Marilee kicked the door open, and motioned for her teammates to get a move on. "Let's get out of here! It got really drafty in here all of the sudden…" That, plus seeing her turn around again, only made them laugh even harder. However, they followed her out of the building, trying to figure out how long it would be before she found out what had happened to her… assets.

*T*S*R*

Meanwhile, in a nearby watch tower, Chris was talking to an older gentleman, who looked gruff, rough and tough, like a retired police officer. He was wearing a camouflage vest over a black t-shirt, a pair of baggy cargo pants, and a cap that said _RCMP_ on it, his graying hair poking out from under it. The two were looking at a monitor, which displayed the Rabid Wolves leaving the prison and heading into one side of the forest and the Killer Bears using Owen as a ram for their door. Once they let him down, they headed into the other side of the woods, with a dazed Owen wobbling close behind them. Sirens blared as they made their escape.

"Oops… I forgot to close the door to the electric fence." Chris shrugged. "Oh well. That was just a lawsuit waiting to happen, anyway." He turned to the former RCMP Mountie and grinned. "Okay, Ron… Looks like our convicts have escaped. You know what to do, right?"

"Get 'em, shoot 'em, bring 'em to that there building," Ron gruffly answered, pointing his paintball gun down to the dinky shack under the watch tower.

"Awesome, I knew it was a good idea to get a retired officer from the RCMP to do this," Chris said, still grinning.

Ron scratched his stubble and smirked a toothy smirk, revealing his yellow teeth. "You said that O'Hannigan girl is gonna be one of 'em, right?"

Chris nodded. "That's right, Izzy's going to be one of them. And she'll definitely be the hardest one to catch…"

"I love a challenge," Ron admitted, still smiling. "Y'know, no one has ever been able to catch her. Not even the best of 'em in the Force. If I were to take her down, I'd go down as the greatest Mountie, retired or not, in Royal Canadian Mounted Police history…"

"Yeah. That's great," Chris muttered, totally not interested. "Look, I'll just leave you to it, buddy. Chef's down there, too. He's gonna help you out."

He walked toward the exit, but before he could, Ron asked, "Where do you think you're gong, pretty boy?"

"Look, I'm already late enough for my manicure as it is," Chris explained, holding his hand out to Ron. "Look at these cuticles! I'm shocked that I even appeared on camera with them in this condition!" He lifted the trap door and made his way down the ladder.

Ron shook his head and grabbed his binoculars. "They just don't make men like they used to anymore…"

* * *

Chris is so manly… XD

What will happen next chapter? Who will Ron capture first? Will Selena be able to keep up with this nicer attitude toward Courtney? Will Marilee find out about her exposed 'assets'? Will Chris get a pedi to go with his mani? Find out the answers to these question, and more, in the next chapter of TOTAL. SIBLING. RIVALRY!


	27. Day 11, Part 2: Cool Hand Keith

EDIT: Sorry for the reupload, guys. There were a few errors I had to fix. Nothing's changed except for some teeny things... :P But back to the author's notes.

Anyway, just so you know, Ron was NOT a parody of 6teen's Ron the Rent-a-cop… I just choose the worst name ever for him XC But you can imagine 6teen Ron if you like XD

Well, a lot happens in this chapter. I hope you enjoy! *coughandreviewcough*

* * *

The orange-suited Killer Bears came to a halt, taking a breather after running for so long. The sirens that started blaring after their escape had faded away, barely audible now. As they continued to pant, Candace sat on the ground and wiped her forehead off with the sleeve of her jumpsuit. "What's the game plan, Duncan?"

"First of all," Duncan started, not looking the least bit tired. He was used to situations like this… "I just want to say that you were awesome with the lasers back there, Candace. I would have been proud to call you my cell mate back in my Juvie days… Second of all, we're doing pretty good so far."

"Pretty _well_," Courtney corrected.

"Thanks, Grammar Nazi," Duncan muttered. "Anyway, we've made some decent time, with how many of us there are." He looked at their surroundings. They had stopped in a pretty open area, with not many trees surrounding them. "We're going to have to be quieter in places like this with less cover. It's okay to talk in the parts of the woods with more trees and stuff to hide us. Point is, we can't let Chris' men find us."

"Who are his 'men,' anyway?" Owen asked.

"Heck if I know," Duncan responded, shrugging. "He never told us, did he? But that's beside the point." His eyes widened as he realized something. "Oh, man! Our tracks! They'll be able to follow those and catch us for sure…"

"No worries," Selena piped up, holding up a tree branch full of dirt-covered leaves. "I got it covered."

Duncan looked back to see that his sister had been dragging the tree branch behind her, smoothing out the path they had sprinted on. The path looked smooth, but not too smooth.

"Nice one," Duncan complimented, smirking. "I've taught you _good_." He looked over to his girlfriend, his smirk still firm on his face.

Courtney pouted. "You did that just to bug me, didn't you?"

"You bet, babe." He winked at her smugly and waved to his teammates to keep going. "We can slow down, but just try not to talk loudly."

"Oh, yeah! We're gonna win!" Owen cheered, pumping his fists in the air. "Killer Bears rule! WOO HOO!"

His cheer echoed through the woods and his team gave him a glare. "Oops." Owen sheepishly grinned and whispered, "I mean… Killer Bears rule. Woo hoo." He shook his fist lightly and started walking again, the others following.

*T*S*R*

LeShawna panted, being one of the first member of the Rabid Wolves to stop and take a breather after all that running. "Phew… Now what?"

"Now we have to keep going," Izzy explained, scooping up some mud from the ground. "We have to be stealthy, making sure that Chris' lackeys don't catch any of us." She smeared some of the mud on her cheeks and forehead and added, "We'll should disguise ourselves first…" Yanking a few twigs off of a nearby tree, she stuck them in her hair.

* * *

"You know, I might have actually taken Izzy seriously…" LeShawna confessed. "But when she started rubbing muck all over herself, I knew that white girl wasn't the best person to take advice from."

* * *

"Mud?" Marilee cocked an eyebrow. "It may be good for your skin, but it's bad for your rep when you're on international television…" She leaned against a tree, more so on her backside than the rest of her. "Whoa, this is a really rough tree…" She scratched her butt against it a few times, then leaped away, yelping. "Ouch! I could feel that right through my clothes!"

She glared at the others as they laughed at her once again, not realizing what was so darn funny. She faced them, revealing to the camera that her still-bare butt was now very red from the bark rubbing on it.

* * *

Giggling like crazy, Izzy, still covered in mud and twigs, said, "I don't think young Marilee needs to worry about _mud _ruining her reputation! And people say _my_ skull is thick!" She tapped her chin and added, "I guess it kind of is, though. Especially after they put that metal plate in it. You wanna see the scar?"

* * *

"Look, I don't care what kind of drugs you giggling cuckoo birds are on right now," Marilee irritably told them. "Just pull yourselves together and let's keep going." She walked, leading the group, and muttered, "Still wish you'd let me in on the joke…"

* * *

"Hm…" Keith tapped his chin, a sly smirk on his face. "Pros of telling Marilee about the seat of her pants being singed off… She'd probably be so grateful to me for saving her from further embarrassment, she'd make out with me." His smile disappeared. "Cons… She might get ticked off at me for not telling her sooner and rip my face off…" He shrugged, grinning once again. "Either way, the results will be interesting."

* * *

"Does anybody even know where we're going?" Marilee asked, looking at the unfamiliar trees.

"You're the one leading us," Jovie pointed out. "We thought _you_ knew."

"It's cool, guys," Geoff said. "I remember this trail from when we had to por-whatever our canoes across this place last year. We're going in the right direction."

Marilee gestured toward the path in front of her. "Be my guest and take the lead then. Maybe if you guys are in front of me, I won't have to hear your giggling… I just wish I knew what the joke was…"

Keith sighed, deciding to be the bigger person, unlike the rest of the team. "Marilee, you should know that-"

"Did I say _you_ could talk?" Marilee snapped as she walked past Keith, still upset at him about their kiss.

Keith sighed and, after she was out of ear-shot, muttered, "Can't say I didn't try…"

*T*S*R*

Since the Bears were out in a more open space, they had opted not to talk to each other for a while. Duncan, being the most experienced with escaping these types of situations, was leading the group, guiding them along the path they had chosen to take.

It was starting to get darker outside, which meant it was getting colder. Gwen rubbed her arms, shivering quite a lot. Their jumpsuits may have had long sleeves and pant legs, but they were not made of very thick material.

Trent noticed how cold she seemed to be and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer to himself. Gwen sighed lightly, resting her head in the nook of his neck.

Grace glared up at Gwen as she separated from Trent and kept walking. Grace, behind Trent and in front of Gwen, suddenly tripped and landed in a mud puddle. She silently growled at her bad luck, especially when Gwen let out a silent chuckle, but stopped and thought about it for a second, smirking. She stood back up, started sniffling and ran up to Trent, yanking on his orange jumpsuit leg.

Trent stopped and looked down. "Whoa, how'd you get so muddy?"

Grace wiped some dirt off her cheek and whimpered, "I-I-I was just walking and..." She jabbed a finger at Gwen, who had also stopped and finished, "Gw-Gwen pushed me down!"

Trent looked from Gwen to Grace again and laughed. "Grace, I highly doubt Gwen would do that. You probably just tripped on a tree root or something."

"No, she did! I felt her kick me in the back!" she protested.

"Gwen, did you kick Grace down?" Trent asked his girlfriend, not because he actually believed she would do something like that, but because he thought hearing the answer from Gwen would convince her that she really had just tripped.

"I can honestly say I didn't," Gwen smugly said, trying her best to look like she wasn't amused at Grace's half-baked plan failing.

Trent looked down at Grace and asked, "See? C'mon, we have to catch up with the others…" He kept walking, Gwen following, but not before giving Grace a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

Grace, a muddy mess, started following them, quietly grumbling to herself.

* * *

Grace shook some mud off her arm and sighed, "I hate Gwen even more now than I did before. And I didn't know that was possible. Gah, why can't Trent see what a big, dumb, stupid head she is?"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Ron observed the black and white-striped campers on the monitor, grinning to himself. "Excellent. I've got them right where I want them…" He got out of his tower and took the path he saw the Rabid Wolves go down.

He had gotten several yards from them, when he noticed something. "Why is that young lady's bum showing?" He shook his head in disgust. "Girls these days. Their apparel gets more and more immodest…" He quickened his pace, catching up with them more and more. He was going unnoticed until he accidentally stepped on a twig. Marilee perked up and turned around, but Ron was quick footed and ducked into a nearby bush before she could see him.

Keith looked back at Marilee, not because he was curious as to why she stopped, but because he wanted to tell her something. "Marilee?"

The blonde turned around to look at him in a very non-friendly manner. "_What_?"

Keith tried to get the words to come out, but couldn't bring himself to. He simply sighed, unzipped his jumpsuit and started pulling it down. Before Marilee could object, which is what it looked like she was about to do, Keith pulled off the white, long-sleeved t-shirt he was wearing underneath, handed it to her, and zipped back up. "Tie this around your waist."

"What?" Marilee observed the shirt, then looked back up at him. "Why?"

"I'm sorry that I, or none of us, for that matter, didn't tell you this before, but… It's just that… During the laser thing…" Keith, not sure of how to put it, leaned toward Marilee and whispered something into her ear.

Marilee, wide-eyed, said nothing as she tied the sleeves of the shirt together to cover her exposure.

* * *

"Wow," Keith muttered, looking surprised. "I was expecting her to scream like a banshee after finding out…"

* * *

Marilee silently sat in the Confession Can for a while, staring blankly into space. "Stay calm, Marilee… Stay- **AAAAHHHHH!**!"

* * *

Marilee looked back up at him, her expression a mixture of frustration and gratitude. "Thank you," she mumbled, sounding like a little kid who was being forced to thank her grandmother for a tacky Christmas sweater.

Keith only smirked at her humility. "No problem, milady."

"Milady?" Marilee had a ton of comments about the use of that word, but choose not to. They speed walked up to their group and were luckily able to catch up. Unknown to them, Ron had been quietly following them, moving from tree to tree.

The perfect moment struck, and Ron popped out from behind a fir, paintball gun in tow. "Put your hands where I can see 'em, scumbags!"

The entire Rabid Wolves team spun around, screaming at the sight of him. However, none of them obeyed his orders and made a mad dash away from the retired officer.

Ron snarled as he raced after them, firing at will. He mostly hit a couple of bushes and the ground, but a grunt assured him that he had finally hit one of the campers.

Marilee looked back to see which member of their team they had lost. "Keith!" she shrieked, running over and kneeling over him. She inspected the red spot on his back, relieved to see that it was just paint. It was a foolish choice to go back to help him, however, as it gave Ron the perfect opportunity to hit her right in the back, making her fall on her stomach.

Their teammates turned around to look at the two wounded teens, worry in their eyes. Marilee managed to prop herself up with one arm and dramatically reached out to her comrades with the other. "Go on without us! Save yourselves!" she called out.

The remaining Rabid Wolves looked at each other, shrugged and scurried off without another passing glance.

Marilee suddenly looked angry and her dramatic hand dropped. "Hey, get back here! I didn't mean that! I was just being theatrical!"

Ron approached the two and yanked them up by the collars of their jumpsuits, muttering something about getting the others later. Keith, finally speaking up, stuttered, "W-w-who are you?"

Ron looked the two over and grinned. "I'm your worst nightmare…"

*T*S*R*

"So what did you and Geoff do last night?" Owen asked his sister as they made their way through the darker areas in the forest they were trekking through.

Candace shrugged. "We just hung out by the lake and talked, I guess."

"Did you guys hold hands?"

She giggled and said, "Well, a little."

"Did you two make out?"

"Owen!" Candace screamed, blushing like crazy. "That is _so _not something I want to discuss with you!"

Poor Owen's eyes got big and watery, making Candace's heart melt. "Ooooh, I can't stay mad at you, big guy!" Candace gave him a one-armed hug, since giving him a full hug while walking would be very difficult. Heck, with their size difference, even her one armed hug was difficult.

"… So… Am I going to be an uncle anytime soon?"

"OWEN!"

* * *

Candace, looking more stressed than she had ever looked before, gripped her head and didn't even look up at the camera. "Look… I love Owen. I do. He's such a great brother… But he can just be so nosy." She looked up and crossed her arms. "He's just curious, I suppose. But a little _too _curious, you know?" She sighed and shook her head. "I mean, Duncan was nosy about Selena's love life because he wanted to protect her. Owen wants to know about mine because he's… Owen."

* * *

"Yo, Kim Possible," Duncan yelled over his shoulder to Candace. "Would you stop yelling? We're running from the fuzz, not playing freeze tag."

"Oooh, that sounds fun," Zoey commented, stopping in her tracks. "Let's do that instead!" She spun around and pushed Grace, who fell into another puddle of mud. "Heeeey!" Zoey whined. "You were supposed to freeze!"

Duncan rolled his eyes and said, "Never mind. Let's just keep going…"

*T*S*R*

Marilee, slung over one of Ron's shoulder, took a sniff and flinched, covering her nose. "Bleh. Ever heard of deodorant, old man?"

"You shut your mouth!" Ron barked at her. "How dare you disrespect a Mounted Officer like that!"

* * *

Ron took a look around the Confession Can, then sniffed his pits. "Whoa…" He cringed. "Guess she had the right to disrespect me… Maybe I should have asked her about this newfangled 'deodorant' stuff…"

* * *

"I thought you were retired," Keith mumbled, slung onto the other shoulder. "And why are you carrying us? We're capable of walking, you know."

"You will both be silent or else!" Ron snarled at them, making his way toward a small shack. "You are the two rudest maggots I have ever had to deal with…"

* * *

"Rude?" Marilee scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Please. I may be sassy… All little bold, perhaps…" She sighed and muttered, "And I can occasionally be a bit of a… female dog… But I'm _not _rude."

* * *

Ron kicked the door open and tossed the two teens in, not caring about their cries of pain. "You will stay in here until the challenge is over. Don't bother trying to escape. It would be useless." With that, he slammed the door and left the two in partial darkness.

*T*S*R*

"Are we there yet?"

"No, Zoey," Selena told her, looking tired.

"Are we there, _now_?"

"NO, Zoey," Duncan told her, looking even more tired than Selena, not to mention irritated, since that was, like, the twentieth time she had asked that.

"… Are we-"

"Does it look like we're there? **DOES IT**?" Duncan snapped, making a few birds fly out of their trees in fright.

Zoey, shocked by her brother's angry response, started tearing up and ran through a bush into a separate path, loudly sobbing.

"Zoey!" Courtney called out after her. Scowling, she slapped Duncan on the arm. "How could you just yell at her like that?"

Duncan, rubbing his sore arm, responded, "I didn't mean to make her cry, but… Well, did _you_ want to hear her ask that about fifty thousand more times?"

Courtney's expression softened and she admitted, "Well, no… But still, you could have handled that better. Now she's run off to who knows where!" She sighed and started toward the alternate path Zoey had taken. "I guess I'll go find her."

"I'll come with you," Selena told her, catching up with her. "I want to make sure Zoey doesn't get hurt, either. And, you know, safety in numbers. After all, you're the most valuable member of the team, and losing you would be a great shame. You're also the prettiest." She gave her a big, toothy smile.

Courtney cocked an eyebrow, but shrugged and shoved the bush aside for her. "Okay… Let's get going, then."

* * *

Courtney tapped her chin, looking up at the ceiling of the Confession Can, deep in thought. "At first, I wasn't sure what to make of Selena's newfound kindness toward me. Trickery? Sucking up so I won't vote her off?" Courtney shrugged, smiling lightly. "But, heck, she's actually being sort of pleasant, so I'll take it."

* * *

*T*S*R*

"So… Um…" Keith struggled to think of something to talk about. Marilee glaring at him as she sat across from him on the cold, hard floor of the shack only made him more blank-minded. "You know… Maybe we could take this opportunity to get to know each other better… It's not like we have anything better to do, since we're-"

"Shut up," Marilee growled, crossing her legs Indian style. "It's your fault we're in here in the first place."

Keith suddenly looked angry and retorted, "You didn't have to stop and check on me, you know."

Her eyes widened, realizing that he had a point. "Well… I… Um… Your mom!"

"Oooooh, good one!" Keith sarcastically told her, clapping his hands.

Marilee's lips pinched into a pout and she turned her face away from him. "I would have checked up on anybody. I'm not completely heartless, you know."

"Riiiiight…."

She looked back him, eyes narrowed. "What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Marilee, face it." Keith crossed his arms over his chest and smirked. "You are not that caring of a girl. You'd only help someone who meant something to you. You would have helped Geoff, because he's your brother and you love him. You would have helped Selena or Jovie, because they're your friends. That means you have got to like me at least a _little_ bit."

"No, no, no!" she whined, pounding her fists on the ground. "Do not, do not, do NOT!"

"Wow… _That_ was mature."

"Just shut it already!" Marilee crossed her arms again, turning away from him again. "I don't like you like that. I don't _want_ to like you like that. _You _don't want to like me like that, so why are you fighting so hard to?"

Keith's expression softened and he scooted closer to her, though her back was still to him. "Who ever said I didn't?"

Marilee shrugged. "Why would you?"

"Lots of reasons."

Marilee turned around and looked at him, truly shocked. "R-really?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Does that surprise you?"

Looking down at her feet, she admitted, "Yes." She turned around, pulling her knees into her chest, still avoiding looking at him. "Look, I know I'm sort of…"

"Harsh?" Keith suggested. "Temperamental? Bee-otchy?"

Marilee looked up to glare at him. "I was going to say 'mean' or 'bossy'… But I guess those things are true, too…" She sighed, pulling her knees even closer to herself. "Most guys back home don't really like me… I really… I don't know _why_ I act like this… I just sort of _do_…"

"That's one of the things I like about you." Keith placed a hand on her shoulder, making her look up at him once more. "You say you're mean, I just say you don't bull crap people. You say you're bossy, well… You just like to take charge and get things done the way you believe they should be done. And your way is probably better than any way I could ever come up with." Both let small smiles creep on their faces and he continued, "And when you put your mind to something, Mar, you could do almost anything. That thing with the lasers a while back? Awesome! Even though that one came back to bite you in the bu-" He stopped mid-sentence. "Oops. Almost made a pun. I know you hate those."

Marilee smiled. "Aww, you remembered my pun rant from last Thursday!"

Keith nodded. "Yeah. So, anyway, you're being too hard on yourself, Mar. So you've got some bad qualities. Who doesn't? That doesn't mean every guy on Earth is banned from liking you." He leaned in and whispered, "And last time I checked, liking me was not illegal, either."

Marilee couldn't help but giggle, lightly slapping him in a friendly manner. "I'm sorry I keep getting so freaked out around you. Guess I just have trouble admitting… when I like someone."

Keith met her gaze and smiled. "You mean that?"

"Only if you meant what you said about liking me."

He nodded, his sandy blonde hair bobbing along with every nod.

They silently smiled at each other for a second, until Marilee broke the silence by telling him, "My favorite color is purple."

"What?"

"My favorite color. It's purple."

He tried to contemplate what she was talking about, but remembered his suggestion from earlier about them getting to know each other better. Guess she was up for it now.

"Mine's blue." He grinned. "Just like your eyes."

*T*S*R*

"Zoey! Zoey!"

"Where are you, Zoey?"

Courtney sighed, looking back at Selena. "I don't think we're getting anywhere with this tactic…"

_What was your first clue, brainiac? _Selena nodded and, instead of saying what she was thinking, said, "You're right. What should we do?"

"Maybe we could find Chris or Chef," Courtney suggested, rifling through a random bush in search of the sad little girl. "They might be watching over us with hidden cameras, so they might have seen where she went."

_That's a great idea, Courtney! You're so intelligent. No wonder you were a CIT. _"What, and cost the team two points by getting caught? That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard!"

Courtney popped up from the bush and cocked an eyebrow at the blonde.

Selena thought over what she said and covered her mouth. "Oops. Mixed up my thoughts and actual words…"

A high-pitched scream interrupted the awkward moment, but made both girls' hearts race. "Zoey!" They both ran toward the source of the scream, even more nervous when they saw that Chef was holding Zoey, dripping wet in red paint. He had a paintball gun in the other hand.

He noticed the two girls and pointed the gun at the closest target, which was Courtney. "No, don't!" Selena yelled, running in front of Courtney in order to protect her. "Courtney's too amazing and CITish to lose this! Shoot me, instead!"

Courtney would have been filled with gratitude for this heroic act. She _would_ have been, if it hadn't been for the fact that when Chef was getting ready to shoot at Selena, she yelled, "Oh, screw this! Shoot _her_!" and shoved her in front of Chef's gun.

As Chef started shooting, Courtney grabbed Selena to keep her from running. "If I'm going down, you're going down, too, sister!" Eventually, both were splattered with red paint.

* * *

Selena bit her lip and guiltily shrugged. "Sorry, Zackie. Guess I still have a thing or two to learn about being nicer to Courtney. Pushing her in front of an armed Chef Hatchet was _not _my shining moment in niceness history…"

* * *

Chef carried the three to a shack, one different than the one Marilee and Keith had been tossed into, and slammed the door behind him once they were inside.

"I knew you didn't really like me now!" Courtney snapped, standing up and wiping dust off her orange jumpsuit. "You were just trying to manipulate me, weren't you?"

Selena stood up, too, fluffing her blonde and pink hair and rolling her teal blue eyes. "Please, you're giving me _waaay_ too much credit. I'm not exactly a master strategist."

"I'll say." Courtney put her hands on her hips and smirked. "A master strategist would at least know how to tie their shoes, Miss Velcro." She pointed to her boots, where it was visibly seen that they were held together with two Velcro strips.

* * *

"I can totally tie my shoes!" Selena protested, arms crossed angrily. "Velcro's just easier, that's all. Don't believe me? Just get me a sneaker and-" She snapped and screamed, "GAH, I can't believe Duncan told her that!"

* * *

"Whatever. I wasn't doing it for you or Duncan or the competition or whatever. I was doing it for Zack."

"What does Zack have to do with this?"

"Before he left, he asked me to be nicer to you…" She looked the other girl over and scoffed, "Frankly, I wish he would have asked me to shave Chef's back instead."

"What's your grudge against me?" Courtney demanded. "What have I ever done to you?"

"You know perfectly well what you did! You-"

"Guys!" Zoey, who had been silently and fearfully watching the two quarrel up until that point, piped up. "Please don't fight!"

Courtney and Selena exchanged a glance, realizing they weren't setting the best example for the little girl. "Fine," they both sighed at the same time, moving to different corners of the shack.

But they both knew very well that they were far from fine.

*T*S*R*

"You're kidding me. _That's _how you got that scar on your leg?" Keith asked, pointing to Marilee's covered right calf.

She nodded and giggled, "Yes, okay? I fell off a trampoline and landed on a lawn gnome. How did you _think_ I got it?"

"I thought you took on some burly bikers," Keith jokingly suggested. "And won, of course."

With another giggle, she lightly slapped him. "Please, I couldn't even take down LeShawna. Okay, your turn."

"Um… I already told you my birthday, right?"

"Yeah, October 19th. I don't think I've told you mine yet."

"Spill, then."

"… December 24th."

"… No, seriously, when is it?"

"That _is_ it!"

"No way. You were born on Christmas Eve?"

"Yes. Why would I lie about my own birthday?" she rhetorically asked. "Yeah, I was born on Christmas Eve. My mom calls me her 'Christmas Miracle,'" she admitted with a laugh. "I open my birthday gifts on the twenty fourth and open my Christmas presents the next morning. It's awesome." She smiled and added, "Oh, and when I was little, instead of a plate of cookies, I left Santa a slice of birthday cake…" Twirling a strand of blonde hair, she said, "Okay, you're up."

Keith fiddled with the zipper of his jumpsuit and looked up at her. "Um… Okay. Let's dig a little deeper, shall we?"

"Okay."

"I've never really told anyone what I'm getting ready to tell you before, so feel special… I was supposed to have a twin sister, but she died in the womb." Marilee's face softened and he added, "Her name was going to be Megan…"

"Oh, Keith… That's so sad…"

"Yeah…"

Marilee looked around the dinky shack, like she was expecting someone to come bursting in, but nobody did, so she turned back to him. "Okay, here's something I've never told anybody about before… Well, Geoff knows, but he was there, so I didn't actually have to tell him. And I told my therapist Charlie, but that's what he gets paid to do, so… Yeah." She shrugged and continued, "Anyway, my aunt Linda bought me this beautiful silk dress for, like, no reason."

Keith cocked an eyebrow. "I thought you only wore stuff you made yourself."

"I make exceptions for really nice stuff, and this was a _really_ nice dress. I was planning on wearing it to Geoff's birthday party, since it was only a few weeks away from then. The only problem was that it was a few sizes too small and she didn't give me the receipt, so I couldn't exchange it. I kind of wanted to lose weight anyway, and that seemed like a good incentive." Marilee traced a circle on the floor with her finger, not looking at him. "Well… I did something to lose some weight that I'm not too proud of."

Keith looked truly shocked. "Whoa. Did you, like, starve yourself? You weren't really …_anorexic_, were you?"

"No…" Marilee looked pretty ashamed, still not taking her eyes off her finger as she admitted, "The other one…"

Keith looked even more shocked, but said nothing as she continued, "Well… Geoff found me… 'dieting' one afternoon." Tears brimmed in her eyes. "I've never seen him so freaked out…" Keith scooted over to her and wrapped an arm around her, to keep her from crying. "He dragged me out of the bathroom, force fed me a second lunch and then made me sit at the kitchen table with him until our mom got home, so he could keep an eye on me… Then he told her and they watched me like hawks…" She wiped her eyes, cuddling closer to him. "I said such awful things to him that night. Awful for my standards, even. But now I'm just so grateful that he cared enough to help me like that. Who knows what would have happened if he didn't…"

"Geoff's a great guy," Keith agreed, nodding and pulling her even closer.

"He is… And so are you." She gave him a small glance and smiled. "You know, it actually feels good to talk to somebody about this stuff."

"What about Charlie?" Keith asked with a smirk.

"Charlie never lets me cuddle him." Both laughed, and Marilee wrapped her arms around him. "I've never had this much fun with a guy before, Keith. I've also never been so open about stuff like that… You're not as bad as I thought you were."

"Back atcha, babe."

Normally, Marilee would have slapped him for calling her such a thing, but somehow it just felt… right.

"Marilee?"

"Yeah?"

"…There's something else I need to tell you."

"Uh huh?"

"This morning, when I spilled my orange juice on you… I did that on purpose to get back at you for being so harsh to me…"

He braced himself, expecting her to throttle him. However, all she did was crack up laughing, making him laugh, too.

"Ha ha! Oh, Keith… You are definitely better than I thought you would be."

"Want to know something else, Mar?"

"What?"

"You were my first kiss."

She smiled and told him, "You were mine."

"Can I be your second?"

Marilee made an exaggerated thinking face, then broke out in a huge smile and nodded. "And I promise not to kick you in the shin this time…"

*T*S*R*

Ron smirked, two Killer Bears drenched in paint tucked under each arm.

"Why are you carrying us, Mister Smelly Man?" Grace asked.

"Yeah, we do know how to walk, you know," Gwen looked up at him, very annoyed.

Ron shook his head. "You kids complain a lot, you know that?"

"You'd complain, too, if you were downwind of some smelly old cop's BO."

All Ron did was throw them into the shack they had arrived at, slammed the door shut and walked off, bumping into Chef.

"What do you think you're doing?" Chef demanded. "I'm supposed to be taking care of the Bear maggots!"

"Cool your jets, soldier," Ron commanded. "You were not doing an adequate enough job. You may retire for the night."

"Hey, guys," Chris greeted the seething Chef and forceful Ron, blowing his freshly manicured nails dry and admiring the glossy, clear polish. "How's the bounty hunt going?"

"You ain't the boss of me!" Chef yelled, completely ignoring Chris. "I'm gonna keep shooting these little punks as much as I darn well please!"

"That was not a suggestion. That was an order!" Ron barked back. "I'm in control now! I make the rules! I am going to take these good for nothing scumbags down one by one, especially Izzy O'Hannigan. Their heads shall all rest on my mantle by this time tomorrow!"

Chris and Chef exchanged a freaked out glance while the retired RCMP officer cackled wildly, running off with his paintball gun. "Uh…" Chris stared at him blankly as he sprinted off. "Dude, don't you think he's overreacting a little? It's just a TV show…"

*T*S*R*

Duncan sighed, looking back at his remaining teammates. They had already lost most of their team to either Chef or Ron and their paintball skills. The only ones left with him were Candace, Owen, Trent and Heather, and they were all glaring at him. They were still miffed about his behavior toward Zoey previously.

"C'mon, stop looking at me like that! I didn't mean to make the kid cry!" Duncan yelled, clearly aggravated.

"You didn't have to be such a jerk, though," Trent told him.

"Yeah," Cody agreed. "She's just a little kid, man."

"You really owe her an apology," Heather said, nodding.

"Like I'm going to take advice from the girl with more enemies than Marilee has shoes," Duncan scoffed, rolling his eyes.

Heather glared at him, but crossed her arms, choosing not to say anything. He _did_ sort of have a point…

"Leave her alone, Duncan," Candace said, sticking up for her friend and patting her on the back. "She's changed. And she has a point. You really should apologize."

"Who said I wasn't going to?" Duncan asked. "I do have a _little _bit of a soul, you know."

"You do?" Owen gasped, genuinely surprised.

Duncan frowned and he pulled back a nearby tree branch, hitting Owen in the face with it.

* * *

"How many times do I have to say I didn't mean to upset her?" Duncan asked, irritated. "Sheesh, a guy makes his four year old sister cry and he's suddenly the next Hitler…"

* * *

Suddenly, Ron jumped out of a bush and landed in front of the teens, two huge and threatening paintball guns in his hands.

"AAHH!" Owen screamed, hiding behind the inadequate shield that was Candace. "He didn't have those big guns when he shot Grace and Gwen!"

"That's right, Tubbs," Ron said, with a wicked grin. "These babies will make taking you all down much easier…" The teens screamed and headed in the other direction, Ron chasing after them.

The team had somehow reached a dead end. When Ron reached them, Duncan did the first thing he could think of and shoved Owen in front of the retired cop's shot.

The big teen clutched his paint soaked chest in pain, collapsing in front of them like the shot had been deadly. He rolled toward the back of the group in pain and Candace kneeled next to him, looking very worried. "Owen!" She hugged him and he motioned for her to come closer to his mouth. Neither noticed that Cody had also been recently shot.

"Candace, I need to tell you something… In case I don't make it."

* * *

Cody, covered in red paint, bit his lip awkwardly, then asked the camera, "He _does_ realize that that was all just pretend, right?"

* * *

Tears were building up in her dark brown eyes. "Yes, big brother?" She was so blinded by her tears that she couldn't even see Trent and Heather being shot down.

"If the baby you and Geoff are having is a boy, name it… Owen." With that, he collapsed, tongue stuck out dramatically.

Candace's tears vanished and her lips puckered into a pout. She screamed at him, "I'm **NOT **pregnant!" A red flash passed right behind her head, making her yelp. Both she and Duncan bolted past Ron as he was scooping up Heather.

The retired cop growled, but shook his head and muttered, "I'll get those two later…" He had gathered up the first three captured teens, but when he walked over to the unconscious Owen, he frowned deeply, looking nervous.

"… I might have to make a second trip…"

*T*S*R*

Ron had dropped the three lighter Killer Bears in their shack, making a second trip for Owen, who he had to wake up. He was far too heavy to carry…

After walking away from the shack, he had crossed paths with the Rabid Wolves. He only managed to catch three this time; Geoff, DJ and Jovie.

"Why does _she _get to be carried there?" Geoff whined, walking alongside DJ and Ron, who had Jovie thrown over his shoulder. "My feet hurt! I wanna be carried, too!"

Ron muttered, "First you moan and groan about being carried, now you throw a fit when I don't carry you… You kids are so hard to please…"

He dropped them off at the door of their imprisonment shack, setting Jovie down. "Get inside, now! I have some untended business to take care of…" He bolted off, leaving the teens confused.

"He's crazy," DJ muttered.

"You said it, boy," Jovie agreed. Grabbing the door handle, she wondered out loud, "I wonder if Keith and Marilee have killed each other yet…" She flung the door open and got her answer.

Keith and Marilee were sitting on the floor of the smelly shack, sharing a small, yet deep kiss. Neither knew of their teammate's presences.

The three couldn't help but laugh, which brought their presence to the new couple's attention. They separated and blankly stared at the chuckling teens for a second. Marilee, acting very out of character, shrugged, and went back to kissing Keith.

This made the laughter cease. "She isn't going to spaz out?" DJ asked the two standing next to him.

"Aw, man," Geoff said with a pout. "Now it's just gross."

* * *

Yes, that's right everybody. Marilee CAN be nice! *gasp*

And yes, Marilee was bulimic. I wanted to be vague, but... yeah. She wasn't for dangerously long. Just several days. But still, even that can be unhealty. Statistics say that an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 Canadian women aged 13 to 40 have anorexia nervosa and twice as many have bulimia. I think a girl at my school that I didn't really know had anorexia. If you know somebody with an eating disorder, do what Geoff did. Get them some help.

Sorry to be all after-school special on you. But that's a serious issue.

On a lighter note, I love how this chapter turned out. Hope you guys did, too! Part three and the ceremony should be out soon!


	28. Day 11, Part 3: Arrested GxC Development

Wheee, quick update :D

Just wondering… For those of you who get alerts for this story… Did you get an alert last time? Greenie said she didn't the first time and I was just wondering… :P

Anyway, read, review and enjoy! :D

* * *

LeShawna sighed, looking back at Izzy. They had lost Herbie and Xavier long ago, so it was just the two of them. And she knew that nothing good could come out of their situation, especially if she got shot and _Izzy_ was left to earn the win for their team.

"Izzy-"

"E-Scope."

"… Right… _E-Scope_, do you think we're gettin' close to the boat back to Wawanakwa?"

Izzy sniffed the air and nodded. "Yeah. I can smell the pond scum from here… We should be pretty close."

LeShawna sighed in relief and looked upward. "Oh, thank you! I need to go home and take a shower…"

"Why? I never take showers."

LeShawna blinked. "Izzy-"

"**E-SCOPE**."

"Whatever," LeShawna muttered, rolling her eyes. "But you have to take showers or baths or do _something_ to clean yourself up, right? Otherwise, you'd stink something nasty…"

"Well, DUH," Izzy said with a giggle. "Of course I clean myself. I just don't take showers is all. I do it the natural way."

"… That being?"

"Licking myself, of course!" Izzy exclaimed, like it was obvious. "Cats do it all the time!"

LeShawna gaped at her, absolutely disgusted, but opted to say nothing she would regret and kept walking.

*T*S*R*

Duncan looked around, glancing at the strawberry blonde walking next to him every once in a while. She looked very… out of character. A huge frown was plastered on her face and she was muttering something to herself. Duncan was able to make out several words, ones that he never even thought were in her sweet little vocabulary.

"Whoa," Duncan gasped at an extremely bad mutter. "Even my old cell mates back in Juvie didn't use _that _kind of language…"

Candace looked over at him, like she was too consumed with her own anger to remember that he was with her. "Oh, sorry. I guess I'm just a little mad…"

"Didn't even know you were capable of that. You're always smiling and laughing and all that happy crap."

"That doesn't mean I can't feel any other emotions," she retorted, rubbing her arms from the cold of nightfall. "You always seem so scary and bullyish and 'Rawr, I'm gonna beat you up,' and yet you can be happy sometimes."

The punk looked ahead, then back at her. "Guess you've got a point there… So… What was Owen going on about before?" he asked her. "Something about… Naming a baby after him or something?"

Candace grunted, punting a pebble out of sight. "Gah, Owen was just being his naive self. He thinks just because Geoff and I went on a date last night, that automatically impregnated me. We didn't even _kiss_, for Edward's sake!"

"Edward?"

"Yeah, Edward Cullen. Y'know, from Twilight."

Duncan shook his head. "… No comment."

"Anyway, I guess he's just excited for me. And Geoff, since he was so bummed about the Bridgette thing. I just wish he didn't want to know every single detail about my dating life…"

Duncan shrugged. "He's probably just trying to look out for you."

"That's what you'd assume, wouldn't it?" she rhetorically asked. "You do that with your sisters, and that's really sweet and all-"

"I am not sweet. I was just doing my brotherly duties."

"Whateveeeeeeer," Candace drawled, looking slightly amused at his resistance of the compliment. "You're nicer than you were last year, that's for sure."

"Yeah, I guess… But continue."

"Right. Well, Owen doesn't butt into my business the same reason you did. He just…"

"Wants to know everything about everybody?" Duncan suggested.

Candace nodded. "Right. It at least shows he cares about people's lives… But he cares too much… And I don't think he actually _knows_ how babies are made."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't." He brushed past a few bushes, squinting when something caught his eye. "Hey, I can see the boat!"

"It hasn't left yet?" Candace said, a little more of her usual perk in her voice. "Yay!" The orange suited teammates raced toward the shore, only to be stopped by Ron, who fell out of a tree and landed gracefully on his feet.

"EEP!" Candace shrieked, hiding behind Duncan. "That's a _bazooka_!"

"A _paint_ bazooka, my dear," Ron corrected her, flashing her a yellow grin. "Soon, your hair ain't gonna be the only red thing on ya…"

Candace gasped, popping out from behind Duncan. "Hey, I'm not a redhead! I'm strawberry blonde! Get it right, old man! If you can't even tell the difference between red and light reddish blonde, then you're too stupid and useless to even deserve to live!"

* * *

"Wow," Duncan muttered. "I _really_ hope Candace was still ticked off about the Owen thing and using Ron to vent her fury. If she was actually _that _angry about calling somebody by the wrong hair color…" Duncan shook his head and chuckled. "**Wow**."

* * *

Candace giggled, back to her old self, and said, "Okay, I _really_ overreacted back there. Owen's attitude made me feel all weird inside and I had to let it out somehow. What's that feeling called again?" She tapped her chin for a second and snapped her fingers. "Oh, yeah! I think it's called 'anger'… That was the first time I've ever really felt it…"

* * *

Ron snarled at her insults and fired, resulting in Duncan sprinting away and Candace being covered head to toe in the red paint.

*T*S*R*

Chris observed Candace's demise on the monitor in Ron's watch tower and nodded, a little freaked out, yet impressed. "Wow, this guy is good. He found those two before I could, even with all our hidden cameras. You gotta admit, Chef, this guy's freaky good at this stuff… Chef?"

He turned to look at Chef, who was sitting in the corner of the room, arms crossed and face twisted in a furious scowl. Chris walked over and patted the big chef on the head. "C'mon, big guy. I know you wanted to shoot those brats, but think of it this way; the more work he does, the less work we have to do."

Chef's scowl disappeared. "I never thought of it like that."

Chris grinned and patted him on the back. "That's the spirit, buddy. Now, who wants some ice cream?"

"Oh, oh!" Chef waved his hands wildly in the air. "I do! I do!"

"Great!" Chris walked back over to the monitor and sat in his swivel chair, just in time to see LeShawna being shot and Izzy making a mad dash. "Get me a mint choco-chip while you're there, with lots of sprinkles. Chop chop!"

Chef growled, but made his way toward the tower's exit. He wanted ice cream, so it wouldn't be that big of a deal to get it while he was there, anyway…

*T*S*R*

Geoff sat on one of the many crates that were in the dinky shack, twiddling his thumbs and looking around awkwardly. Jovie was on the box next to his, watching her feet as she swung them back and forth. DJ tried to keep his eyes off the spectacle taking place in the middle of the floor, sitting on the floor next to Jovie's crate. He looked just as uncomfortable as his teammates, sans Herbie and Xavier, who had found a bucket and were doing all sorts of things with it to keep themselves amused.

"Um… Marilee? Keith?" DJ called out, looking at the two teens as they continued to kiss, the kiss getting a little deeper every couples of minutes. They ignored him, but he still said, "Could you guys… stop? It's really awkward."

* * *

"Dude thought it was awkward for _them_?" Geoff asked, cringing. "What about _me_? That was my little sister! That was totally **not **awesome for me to have to look at!" He sighed and shrugged. "But Marilee seems happy. That's enough for me to put up with it… As long as they don't start…" Geoff's eyes widened as he thought about it and started shrieking in fright, slapping himself to get the horrible image out of his mind.

* * *

Marilee finally unlocked lips with Keith and spun around to glare at DJ who squealed in fright at her harsh expression. "Listen to me, bub. Ever since I've gotten on this island, I have dangled from a thousand foot tall cliff by my bikini strap, had one of my darkest secrets spilled by my drunk of a brother-"

"Hey!" Geoff whined. "I'm not a drunk!"

"I was talking about DUKE, Geoff… I've also been spat on by Beth, had to watch a bunch of icky blood run down my leg, been barfed on a million times by a baby simulator, and mooned all of North America!" She started panting, and even Herbie and Xavier were scared by this point. "I have been this show's punching bag since day one and I am going to enjoy myself for once if it kills me!" After a few more pants, she went back to smooching with Keith.

"Leave 'em alone, guys," Geoff said. "If they want to make out, then it's none of our business if-" Geoff paused when he noticed something Keith was doing. "Was that tongue?" He stood up and started pushing his sleeve up. "That's it, I'm kicking his a-"

Geoff was interrupted when the door banged open and LeShawna was tossed on the floor.

Marilee separated from Keith again to look at her fallen teammate. "Oh, man! That means Izzy's the only one left! We're dead!"

"That's right, cupcake," Ron said with an evil grin, Candace slung over his shoulder. "And I'm going to take her down as soon as I drop off little Miss Sunshine here."

Candace looked up and waved. "Hi, Geoff! Hi, people who aren't Geoff!"

"Hey, Candace," Geoff waved back, grinning widely and completely forgetting what he was about to do. The others waved back, even though they figured she was just trying to be polite by greeting them.

Ron slammed the door and Marilee and Keith went back to their public display of affection, making their team groan in disgust.

* * *

Jovie scratched her head and mused, "Maybe the immense desire to make out with your significant other and not care who sees is genetic. Marilee and Keith _are _related to Geoff and Bridgette, after all."

* * *

*T*S*R*

Izzy raced toward the boat, wiping the beads of sweat off her forehead with her black and white sleeve before they could get in her eyes. She was her team's last hope, and she was not one to let her team down. Well, not one to let her team down on _purpose_, at least…

Just as she reached the dock, she bumped into a strong figure, knocking her onto her back. She sat up, rubbed her head and opened her eyes to see that she had bumped into Duncan, who was now also on the ground.

Both stood up, just staring at each other for a moment. Izzy finally broke the silence and asked, "Only one left, huh?"

Duncan curtly nodded.

"So is E-Scope. Lotta pressure, huh?"

"Who's E-Scope?" Duncan asked, completely ignoring her question. "The only person I see if you…"

"It's my new name, long story." Izzy cocked an eyebrow, an amused grin on her face. "So… Just you and me, huh?"

Duncan nodded again. "Yep." He jerked a thumb toward the boat and added, "It should be ten soon. If we both get on that boat, it will be a tie."

Izzy nodded and crossed her arms, smile disappearing.

Duncan smirked in a devilish manner. "And I'm not going to let that happen…" He swung his fist to strike her, but she jumped out of the way in time. She attempted to kick him in the gut, but he barely avoided her foot.

They continued their combat, punch after punch, kick after kick. Most of the time, they were able to block the swings, but they did make contact every once in a while. Izzy managed to give Duncan a good punch to the cheek, arm and chest, while the latter had given the redhead a pretty swift kick to the shin. However, neither gave up.

This went on for a while, and Izzy was on the brink of giving up, but an idea sprung into her twisted little mind.

Duncan was one tough cookie, but he had one weakness. A weakness that he and all men had in common.

With a mighty jump in the air, Izzy did a flip and gave Duncan a flying kick in the crotch. Landing stealthily on her feet, Izzy cackled as Duncan fell to his knees, arms between his legs, and whimpered in sheer pain. She quickly gave him the loser sign and did a few back flips until she landed in the boat. And not a second too soon, as the boat decided to pull away then and there.

It was ten 'o clock. The Rabid Wolves had won.

*T*S*R*

The captured prisoners, and Duncan, had been released and shipped back to the campgrounds. They were tired, dirty and covered in paint. The last thing they wanted to do was sit at the campfire pit and listen to Chris talk about more stuff, but they had to.

"First of all, congratulations to Izzy and the rest of the Rabid Wolves on their victory. None of you are going home tonight!"

The team cheered, while Keith and Marilee started kissing again.

Chris and the Killer Bears blinked in total and utter shock. "Uh… Why isn't she slapping him or something?" Gwen asked.

Jovie shrugged. "Beats me. I guess she started not hating him after they spent some time alone together."

Chris just shrugged and muttered to himself, "Guess I should have checked the monitors for the cameras in the shacks more…" Talking at a normal volume, he announced, "Anyway, since the Wolves won, they get a very… special reward tonight. Instead of the Killer Bears voting each other off, tonight the Wolves will vote for who they want to vote off!"

Everybody gasped, along with an uproar of complaints from the Killer Bears.

"Shut up so I can finish!" Chris yelled. He cleared his throat and continued, "Now then, the Wolves will act as a jury, and find one of you guilty."

"So… The guilty one will be the one who is voted off, correct?" Courtney asked.

"That's right," Chris said, nodding

* * *

"Well, I have nothing to worry about then," Courtney boasted, still wearing her jumpsuit and covered in paint spots. "Everybody knows I never do anything wrong. Never! They _can't _prove me guilty!"

* * *

"Wolves, you have thirty minutes to decide who leaves. Bears, wait here until they make the final jurisdiction."

"C'mon, Chris, can't we at least clean up first?" Cody asked, trying to chip the dried paint off his cheek.

"No," Chris bluntly said. "Okay, jurors, gather in the mess hall and make your decision."

Before they could go, Chris stopped them and looked around. "Wait, where's Izzy?"

Keith, who had finally released Marilee, said, "She ran off. Something about unsettled business."

"Whatever," Chris muttered with a shrug. "Just get your vote on and I'll see you all back here in half and hour."

*T*S*R*

The thirty minutes had passed by so quickly, yet as the Bears sat around the campfire and staring at Chris' platter of invincibility, the seconds seemed to tick by oh so slowly.

"Bears, there are eleven of you, but only ten marshmallows on this plate. One of you will not-"

"We get it," Gwen interrupted, rubbing her tired eyes. "You get sent off the island, never come back, yadda yadda… Look, we're all tired, McLean. Can't you pick up the pace a little?"

Chris frowned, clearly irritated at being interrupted. He pulled a gavel out from behind his back and slammed it on the oil drum podium. "Order, order!" He turned to the side and called out, "Have you reached a verdict, Rabid Wolves?"

The entire team, sans Izzy, walked over to the host. Marilee was holding a paper in her hands. "We have, your not-so-honor," Marilee said, looking down at the paper. "We find Gwen and Cody… Not guilty!"

Geoff grabbed two of Chris' marshmallows and tossed it to the two.

"Courtney and Selena, even though you two were a few of the first ones on your team to get shot, you two are safe, too."

Courtney happily caught hers, stuffing it in her mouth as quickly as possible and chewing it with pride to rub it in Selena's face.

"Duncan, Trent, you guys are innocent."

Keith tossed them their marshmallows and Marilee continued, "Candace, Grace and Heather, you three are just fine and dandy."

Geoff tossed a marshmallow to Heather and accidentally hit Grace, who had fallen asleep upright from such an exhausting day, with hers. However, he walked over to Candace and gave hers to her personally, along with a little wink.

"Yeah," Marilee muttered, rolling her eyes. "He isn't biased at all…"

Owen and Zoey, seated right next to each other, exchanged a nervous glance and looked back up at the marshmallow Keith had in his hand. Marilee looked to the two and said, "Zoey."

Zoey gulped at her name being mentioned.

"You are…

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"Not guilty."

Keith tossed her a marshmallow and Zoey looked sheepishly toward Owen. "Sorry, Owen…"

"What? Why Owen?" Courtney questioned. "I don't really like him or anything, but it just seems sort of out there."

"Because he's a giant moron and ruined our super cool prize last night!" Marilee shrieked, tearing her paper in half in rage. Keith put a hand on her back, which made her straighten up and clear her throat, pieces of the paper clutched in her fists. "I mean… We have our reasons."

"C'mon, that's not fair," Cody said, looking upset for his friend. "That was just an accident and-"

"It's fine, guys," Owen said, standing up. "It was awesome while it lasted, but when you gotta go, you gotta go!"

"That didn't sound right," Geoff muttered.

*T*S*R*

Ron scowled deeply as he walked toward the Boat of Losers, which Chef had brought to pick him up from Boney Island.

He hopped on and sat down, crossing his arms tightly over his chest. "Can't believe I let Izzy get away. I didn't even get a chance to fight her."

"Yeah, yeah," Chef said, rolling his eyes. "I've gone up against her before. Consider yourself lucky, buddy."

Chef went back to the steering wheel and started the boat, zipping back to Camp Wawanakwa.

*T*S*R*

Owen had gathered up all his stuff and was getting ready to get on the Boat of Losers. He had hugged pretty much everybody, whether they wanted to be hugged or not. He still had a few more people to say his goodbyes to, however.

"Bye, Owen!" Zoey said, hugging his leg. "I wish you didn't have to go."

"It's okay, Zoey," Owen said, picking her up to hug her. "I don't mind. I lasted the whole time last season. I didn't really think I'd last as long this year, anyway."

Zoey dug around in her pocket and pulled out a fluffy marshmallow. "Here, I saved this for you."

"For me?" Owen gasped. Zoey nodded and popped it in his mouth. After he chewed and swallowed, he hugged her even tighter with one hand, rubbing his stomach with the other. "My elimination was not in vain, belly!" He let her go and walked over to his sister.

"Aww, Owen!" Candace looked up to him, trying her best to look strong and smile. "I'm gonna miss you so much!"

Owen gathered her up in a death hug and exclaimed, "I'm gonna miss you, too, sis!" He put her down and added, "Kick butt in the competition! And have fun, okay?" Before Candace could agree, he bent down and started rubbing her belly. "And make sure you and Geoff take good care of little Owen once you lay his egg and hatch him!"

With one last wave to the crowd, he walked to the boat and took a seat next to Ron, while Candace just stared at him like he had grown a second head.

* * *

"Daddy, I know you're a very busy man, being a door-to-door cheese salesman and all," Candace began, looking slightly worried, "But seriously, couldn't you have taken, like, half an hour out of your time to talk to Owen about the birds and the bees?"

* * *

The boat sped off, and most of the campers dispersed after that. However, Zoey lingered behind, still staring at the boat, and Duncan took that as the perfect time to apologize. He didn't really know how to start, so he simply muttered, "Well, at least our side of the cabin won't reek of his sleep farts tonight…"

Zoey looked up at him, crossed her arms, and turned away from him, nose turned upward.

Duncan groaned and sat down next to her on the edge of the dock. "Look, I'm sorry I yelled at you before, okay? I was just stressed out about being the sort-of leader and-"

"I will never forgive you!" Zoey snapped, turning around and glaring at him. "You were mean and scary and yelly and-"

Duncan pulled a bright red lollipop out of his pocket and waved it in her face. "You forgive me now?"

Zoey's face brightened and she nodded, snatching the lollipop from him and sticking it in her mouth.

Duncan couldn't help but chuckle. "I knew you would."

He left her to enjoy her treat and headed over to the mess hall, where he saw Geoff and Candace leaning against the side of the building and chatting. Once Duncan got there, he greeted them, then turned to Candace and said, "Hey, Candace, I think I saw that Edward Culvers guy by the forest."

Candace stopped listening to Geoff and turned to him, looking excited. "You mean Cullen?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Wait a second… He's not real." She giggled and added, "Even _I _realize that."

"Uh… I meant the dude who plays him in the movie."

She gasped and placed her hands on her cheeks in excitement. "Robert Pattinson?"

"… Sure, why not?"

"Eeeeeeiii!" The guys clamped their hands over their ears to drown out her shrill squeal, only removing them once she had raced out of sight.

Duncan watched her as she ran to the woods, then looked back at Geoff. "Dude, you sure you wanna get involved with a chick like _that_?"

Geoff chuckled and said, "She's so awesome, man. I hope we hook up before one of us gets voted off…"

"Right…" Duncan coughed and added, "So why did you guys _really _vote off Owen?"

"Didn't you hear what Marilee said before?" Geoff asked. "Th-that was it."

Duncan cocked his unibrow, not buying his story. "I wasn't born yesterday, man. I saw you guys before. You can't tell me _that_ didn't help you make your ultimate decision."

"Uh…"

**Flashback: That very night, 10:45 PM, the mess hall**

"_I say we vote Duncan off," Jovie said, taking a seat at the table with the others. "You've seen the skills he's got."_

_She mostly got a round of agreements from her teammates, but Herbie and Xavier were the first to speak against it. "Wait a second!" Xavier yelled._

"_Maybe instead of him," Herbie started, "we should-"_

"_You two are the least noticeable contestants on this show," Marilee pointed out. "Do you seriously think we're going to take_ your_ opinions into consideration?"_

_Herbie sighed and looked at his brother. "She's got a point…"_

"_Wait, maybe we_ shouldn't _vote for Duncan," Geoff spoke up. "He's my bro. I can't just stab him in the back like that!"_

"_Geoff, the name of the game ain't_ Total Friendship Happy Time_," LeShawna pointed out. "Sometimes we gotta vote friends off, even when we don't want to."_

"_I dunno," Geoff sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Just… I need to get some fresh air and think about it more…" He stood up and walked out of the mess hall, where he saw Candace was sitting on the steps._

"_Hey, Candy," Geoff warmly greeted, taking a seat next to her._

_Candace looked up at him and smiled. "Hi, Geoff! I'd ask how the voting's going, but that would sort of be like cheating, right?"_

_Geoff shrugged. "Probably. Chris wouldn't care, though. He never really does when someone cheats… We haven't decided yet, anyway. And don't worry, I'll make sure you don't get the boot."_

"_Aww," she cooed, leaning against him as he wrapped an arm around her. "You're the sweetest…"_

_Before anything else could happen between the two, a huge amount of weight came between their embrace, sliding them both off the steps and on the grass. _

"_Owen?" They saw that Owen had been the divider and was now sitting by himself on the stairs. "What are you doing, dude?" Geoff asked._

"_I wanted to be part of the hug," he explained. "Since we'll be in-laws pretty soon and all."_

"_Oweeeen!" Candace whined. "We're not going to get married anytime soon! We're way too young!"_

"_But he has to!" Owen exclaimed. "He's the father of your child!"_

"_WHAT?" Geoff yelled, jaw dropping. _

_Candace frantically shook her head. "No no no, Geoff! Owen doesn't know what he's talking about. He's… He's joking!"_

"_No, I'm not. You held Geoff's hand last night, so that put a baby in your belly and-" _

"_LEAVE!" Candace shrieked, blushing like crazy._

_Owen, not looking very affected by her harshness, shrugged and started walking away, but not before telling Geoff, "Bye, Almost Brother-In-Law!"_

_Once he was out of sight, Geoff took a seat back on the steps and rubbed his arm awkwardly. "So…"_

_Candace stood up. "So… I'm just…" She pointed behind herself and said, "Gonna go…" She walked off without another word, leaving Geoff bummed out._

"_Maaaan," he whined to himself. "I'll never be able to make my move on Candace if Owen keeps making things too awkward for us to even be close to each other…" He thought it over and it was as if a light bulb suddenly lit up in his head. _

_He ran back into the mess hall and yelled, "Owen!"_

"_Where?" DJ asked, looking around. "I don't see him."_

"_No, let's vote off Owen!"_

"_Why?" Jovie asked. "I thought he was your friend."_

"_Well… Like LeShawna said, sometimes we have to vote off our friends even when we don't want to!" he explained. "You guys remember how far he got last year. He's bound to get that far again!"_

_Keith nodded. "Dude's got a point…"_

_Geoff strolled over to Marilee and placed a hand on her shoulder. "And remember the super awesome prize that he destroyed last night?"_

_Just the thought of it made Marilee growl and remove her shoe. Geoff snatched it from her before she could harm anyone with it. "If it wasn't for him, we'd be chillin' out in a cabin with all that wicked swag at this very moment."_

_There was a stir of conversation, most of them sounding like agreements. _

"_All in favor?" Geoff asked, raising a hand. The entire team, except for Izzy, who still wasn't there, raised their hands and said, "I!"_

_Geoff couldn't help but smugly grin as he grabbed a pen and wrote '__**OWEN**__' in big, black letters on the piece of paper in front of him on the table. _

_Marilee took the paper and stood up. "I'll do the name announcing thing, okay? I wanna see the look on that fluff ball's face when he realizes he doesn't get his marshmallow!" She waved the paper and declared, "I'll bring the paper for show…"_

**End Flashback**

Geoff sighed, looking awfully guilty. "I know it was wrong, man. I just… I really like Candace and-"

"You don't have to explain, dude," Duncan told him. "Dude was getting in your way. I probably would have done the same thing."

Geoff looked him over and sighed, looking even sadder. "That doesn't make me feel better…"

"This might… He was sort of bugging Candace, too."

Geoff perked up. "Really?"

"Yeah. You should have seen how angry she was that he got in the way of you two."

"So she does like me like that! Sweet!"

"And you getting the others to vote Owen off saved my butt from elimination," Duncan pointed out, offering him a fist to bump. "That's worth something. To me, at least."

Geoff bumped his fist, slightly grinning. "Just looking out, dude."

"Well, I'm going to bed. Later, man."

"Yeah, 'night. Guess I'd better go find Candace," Geoff muttered, walking toward the forest. "She's probably still looking for What's-His-Face." He turned back to Duncan and said, "Y'know, you could have just told her you wanted to talk to me alone instead of making up some crock."

Duncan smirked and shrugged. "I know, but where's the fun in that?"

*T*S*R*

Owen silently sat next to the grumpy Ron on the boat, looking around at the passing islands. He couldn't help but overhear him mutter something about Izzy.

"Holy Mama Luigi!" Owen gasped, tugging at his blonde hair. "I never said goodbye to Izzy! Sh-she disappeared and-"

Before he could finish, a familiar redhead sprung out of one of the seemingly empty crates on the boat. She was wielding a huge paintball bun with her.

"Izzy!" Ron bellowed.

Izzy evilly grinned. "Well, well, well… If it isn't Ron the Rent-a-cop."

Ron raised a confused eyebrow at her. "What's a rent-a-cop?"

Izzy rolled her eyes. "Never mind. Did you honestly think you could catch me, old-timer? Please! You couldn't even do that when you were in the force!" She cocked her rifle at him, a playful smirk on her face. "Eat my paintballs, Ronnie!" With that, she fired at will, covering the retired RCMP officer in red paint splatters.

As Ron panicked from getting paint in his eyes, Izzy tossed her gun aside and glomped Owen giving him a small kiss. "Sorry you got voted off, Owen-cakes. Izzy will have to give her team grief for that later."

"But I thought you wanted to be called E-Scope now?"

Izzy shrugged. "Meh. It's never really caught on."

"Oh." Owen hugged her and said, "Don't be too hard on 'em, Iz. They had to vote someone off. I understand."

"Aww, that's my big, snuggly Owen!" Izzy exclaimed, knawing on his ear like it was a gummy worm.

"Ooooh… Hubba hubba…"

With one last kiss, Izzy jumped into the water and swam back to the island, Ron's screams of pain ringing through the air.

* * *

Nooooo... :C

I'll miss you, Owen... You barely got to fart at all this season...

Next challenge will be very fun to write about. More sibling rivalry, awkwardness and maybe a bathroom joke or two… XP


	29. Day 12, Part 1: A Walk to Remember

WARNING! MINOR _A WALK TO REMEMBER_ SPOILERS AHEAD! AND MOOOORE! :O

Lol :D

Well, this was fun to write, but then again, they all are… XD

New challenge, so whoop de doodly doo… I say this is pretty good myself… Cuz I'm arrogant… XD But I hope you guys enjoy it, too!

Oh and Happy Early Thanksgiving :D

* * *

When Marilee awoke the next morning, she felt… refreshed.

Marilee was _not _a morning person. Feeling so great as soon as she woke up only happened once every blue moon.

Why did she feel so wonderful, you ask? The cabin was just as smelly, the food in the mess hall would be just as crappy and the daily challenge would be just as horrific and humiliating. What made her attitude change so suddenly?

Keith.

So far, he was pretty much the only good thing that had come out of her experience on the island. She had denied his feelings, and even his desire to be friends if nothing else, but she somehow found herself with the title of his girlfriend… And she was thrilled about that.

Marilee walked into the mess hall, wearing a bright blue mini dress with a neon green shrug and her favorite pair of black stiletto boots. When she sat down next to Keith at the Wolves table, he took a look at her and said, "Wow. You look great, babe."

Marilee giggled and waved a nonchalant hand. "Aww… I know." Poking at the bowl of sludge Chef placed in front of her, she said, "You don't look half bad, either."

He was wearing the same green t-shirt, white long sleeved shirt, and baggy blue cargo shorts he usually wore, but to Marilee for some reason, he looked even handsomer than usual. Keith smiled and said, "Thanks. I do what I can."

She gave him a small peck on the cheek and started eating her slop.

* * *

"I was on my way to the mess hall this morning, when Chris stopped me and gave me this letter," Geoff sighed, looking at the piece of paper in his hands. A torn open envelope was sitting on his lap, along with a photo, face down. "I dunno how to tell her, dude. I mean, Marilee seems so happy nowadays… Hearing about something like this from a _letter_…" Geoff sighed again and added, "That would crush her."

* * *

Geoff nervously walked into the mess hall, the letter and its contents hidden behind his back. He walked over to Marilee and nervously said, "Uh… Sis?"

Marilee turned around and grinned. "Oh, morning, Geoff. What's up?"

"Uh… Can I talk to you… outside?"

Marilee shrugged. "Sure." She turned back to Keith and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Don't stop being so cute while I'm gone!" With a giggle, she stood up and followed Geoff outside. "So, what'd you want to talk to me about?"

Geoff scratched his neck with his free hand. "Uh… Well…"

"Is this about Keith?" Marilee waved a hand. "Don't worry. He's been a perfect gentleman to me. He even told me he tried to not look at my butt last night as much as possible."

"That's… great." Geoff sighed and handed her the items behind his back. "We got a letter from Mom last night."

"Really? Why would that be something to discuss?" Marilee took the letter and started reading it quietly to herself.

_Dear Geoff and Marilee,_

_Hi, kids! I hope you two are having fun (Well, as much fun as you can possibly have on that horrific island, anyway)! _

_Geoff, I'm sorry things between you and Bridgette didn't work out. She was such a nice girl. But that Candace girl you've been hanging out with seems nice. She'd be a great girlfriend for you… But what do I know, right?_

_I'm so sad Duke didn't make it as far as you two did. And Marilee, sweetie, I'm sorry he blabbed about the tail thing. Don't tell him this, but he's an idiot._

_Anyway, there's a specific reason I wanted to write to you two. I have some big news for you two. After you three left for Wawanakwa, I figured we were going to need an accountant for all the money I'm sure you kids will earn! Well, I got one and guess what? We're dating now! I want you to meet him as soon as the show is over! Oh, you kids will absolutely love him. He's a great man._

_If you need to talk about this, you know where to call me._

_Love, Mom_

_PS: I've attached a picture of him. _

Marilee stared at the paper for a while, even after she was done reading. Her expression was blank, so it was hard to tell what she was thinking.

She looked up at Geoff, cracked a smile, and let out a laugh. "Is this some kind of joke?"

Geoff shook his head. "Nope, it's the real deal."

Marilee's smile faded and he handed her the photograph. She observed the man depicted. He looked to be in his early or mid forties and by his skin tone and nose, you could tell he was Italian. His hair was sleek and black, a strand of it dangling casually in his face. His emerald green eyes shone bright through his small, yet chic glasses. For an old guy, he wasn't half bad looking.

"Oh, my gosh," Marilee muttered, looking from the photo to her brother. "This isn't a joke, is it?"

Geoff shook his head again, looking worried as to how she would react.

Marilee handed him the letter and picture back, still looking blank in expression. "Wow… I never thought… I just never thought she would start dating again."

Geoff nodded. "Me too. But it's been, like, four years since the divorce, Mar. I guess we should have known she'd want to find somebody to spend the rest of her life with _eventually_…"

"I guess you're right," Marilee sighed. "Mom deserves to be happy, after all." She took the picture back and glared at it. "Though she didn't have to pick such a slime ball to go out with…"

"Marilee, don't be so quick to judge," Geoff warned her. "He might be a cool guy."

"Cool guys don't wear sweater vests," Marilee pointed out, pointing to his torso in the photo. "And look at his hair! It's all slicked back and stuff! Only slime balls do that! That's why they're called _slime _balls!"

"His hair's pretty cool for an old dude." Geoff took the picture back from her. "C'mon, Mom has good judgment. She wouldn't date some jerk."

"She married Dad," Marilee muttered, crossing her arms.

"… Okay, have to agree with you there. But she won't make that mistake again. Dad was a jerk and that's all in the past. Besides, this dude looks rich. He'd probably buy us lots of cool stuff to buy our approval… Wouldn't that be awesome?"

Marilee only had the chance to sigh, because Chris' voice boomed over the intercom. "Attention, campers! Report to the bonfire pit immediately!"

Geoff tucked the letter into his pocket, walking toward the destination Chris had told them to go to. Marilee took another look at the photograph of her mom's boyfriend, sighed again, and tucked it into her belt, since she didn't have any pockets. However, without her knowing it, the picture slipped at landed in front of an unknown individual. She picked it up, took a good look at it, then pocketed it. She'd question the reason it was there in the first place later.

*T*S*R*

Chris paced in front of the group of siblings, grinning his trademark grin. "Are you guys ready for excitement?"

"No."

"Not really."

"I wanna go home."

"Great!" Chris exclaimed. "Because for today's challenge, you will be taking a hike through the woods. The first one to make it here by nightfall wins for their team."

"That's it?" Cody asked.

"Yeah, what's the big deal?" Selena asked. "People hike for fun all the time."

Chris raised an eyebrow. "Who said anything about fun? This ain't no stroll through the park. It's a hike. In the woods… That's booby-trapped!"

* * *

Keith bit his lip, trying to stifle a laugh. "He said _boobie_!"

* * *

"The name of the game is… A Walk to Remember! Named after the greatest movie about walking I've never seen ever!"

"_A Walk to Remember _wasn't a movie about walking," Candace pointed out. "It was about this bad boy that falls in love with a good girl." She clasped her hands and cooed, "It was soooo romantic!"

"Sounds boring," Chris muttered. "And if the movie isn't about walking, they shouldn't have put the word 'walk' in there."

"It was a metaphor," Courtney told him. "You know, like life is a big-"

"Yeah, yeah, don't care," Chris said, not looking interested in a summary of the movie.

* * *

"Wikipedia said the movie was about hiking!" Chris angrily yelled. "Those lying computer nerds!"

* * *

"I looove that movie!" Candace gushed. "It kind of reminds me of Duncan and Courtney. Except Courtney doesn't get leukemia and die in the end and-"

There was suddenly a knock on the door and a voice, sounding like Courtney's, asked, "Candace, what are you doing in there?"

Candace looked around shiftily. "Nooooothiiiiing…"

"You aren't spoiling movies in there again, are you?"

She shifted guiltily in her seat. "Nooo…" Once she heard Courtney's footsteps getting farther and farther away, she blurted out, "Rosebud was a sled, Darth Vader was Luke's father, ET goes home, Bella and Edward-"

((We shall stop here. We don't need to find out how Twilight, Million Dollar Baby, and The Brave Little Toaster ended….))

* * *

"Your paths will be filled with the most horrific, blood-curdling, or maybe even tempting traps you will ever encounter! God, will you be messed up after this!" He chuckled, just as a helicopter landed by the campfire grounds and sent most of the campers back from the force of the chopping propellers.

The door slid open and Chef jumped out, jabbing a thumb toward the flying vehicle. "Get in, maggots!"

"Why?" LeShawna asked. "I thought we were walking."

"You are," Chris told her as he walked toward the huge chopper. "But we need to place you separately so you can't cheat or anything."

"Wait, we're doing this alone?" Jovie asked, worried.

"What? No, didn't I explain that part yet?"

"No."

"Oh." He shrugged. "Well, you're going with your siblings. And for those of you who are the only ones left in your family… We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Now get in!"

*T*S*R*

Izzy was the first of her family to get out of the helicopter once it landed. It had taken her an entire box of Izzy Snacks to get on that 'flying demon', as she liked to call it, in the first place. No amount of delicious Izzy Snacks (which were actually pieces of burned bacon from that morning's breakfast that Chef had put in a cereal box for safe keeping) could make her stay on there for longer than necessary.

After Herbie and Xavier jumped out, the helicopter flew off, tousling their red hair as it flew out of sight.

"Phew, thank goodness that's over," Izzy sighed, wiping her forehead. "Thought that thing was gonna crash any minute."

"It wasn't that scary, Izzy," Herbie assured her as they started walking.

"Oh, reeeeeeally? How would you like it if you had to ride around in a big, scary pirate?"

"Xavier's the one who's afraid of pirates, not me."

"What difference does it make? You're twins, so you both like and hate the same things, right? You practically have the same minds."

Herbie sighed, looking at Xavier. "She's got a point…"

*T*S*R*

Zoey looked up at the helicopter as it flew away, then looked up at her older siblings. Selena was watching it fly out of eyeshot, too and Duncan had started walking. Zoey and Selena followed behind shortly.

*T*S*R*

Gwen scowled as the helicopter flew off, glaring at one of her new teammates. Heather.

They had also been paired with DJ. Now DJ was somebody Gwen could stand. But Heather? No matter how many people believed that she had changed, Gwen wasn't going to do that so easily.

And she was going to make sure Heather knew that.

*T*S*R*

Chris slid the door of the copter open, shoving Candace, Courtney, Cody and Keith out of it and onto the forest grass. "I think I'll call your little group… The Killer C's! Get it? Because your names all start with C! There's Cody, Courtney, Ca-"

"Actually," Keith started, standing up and wiping himself off, "My name begins with a K."

Chris frowned. "Well, I'm changing that. K names suck. C names are where it's at! Like me. Chris McLean!" He shot the camera a toothy grin and then added, "From now on, you will be know as Ceith, with a C."

Courtney blinked. "Chris, you can't just change how somebody spells their name because you don't like it. Besides, that spelling of his name would look stupid. Why-"

"Silence!" Chris exclaimed. "His new name is Ceith and that is final!"

"My name was Keith before and-"

"I meant Ceith with a C, Ceith," Chris told him, not looking amused. "Now get started, dudes! You're farther behind than the others!" He slid the door shut and the chopper lifted off.

Courtney sighed. "Okay, watch your step, everybody. Who knows what kind of booby traps Chris has in store for us."

* * *

"She said _boobie, _too!" Ceith giggled.

* * *

Courtney started walking, while Candace, Cody and Ceith followed behind her.

*T*S*R*

Marilee sighed, taking a look through the backpack full of supplies Chris had given them. "Hey, he actually didn't cheap out this time," she told Geoff. "There's plenty of food and drinks, some bug spray… Oh, a little mirror." She pulled it out and handed the backpack back to Geoff. She looked at herself in it, giving herself a little wink. "Hey, pretty lady. Lookin' good!" She made some kissy faces at it, until she was interrupted.

"Do you want me to leave you two alone?" Geoff jokingly asked.

Marilee hid the mirror behind her back and blushed in embarrassment. "No… I… Just… My hair looks really good today and…" She grunted and tossed the mirror back at him. "You'd be doing the same if I hadn't done it first."

He shrugged. "True." He looked at his reflection in the small mirror, too, giving himself a little wink.

After he tucked it back into the backpack and they kept walking, they heard a squish. Marilee stopped dead in her tracks, not because she wanted to, but because she couldn't move.

"Uh… Geoff?"

Geoff, how hadn't even noticed her stopping, stopped and turned around. He gaped at what he saw.

Marilee had stepped in quicksand that the two had failed to notice, and it was now all the way above her ankles. "Geoff, what are we going to do?" Marilee screamed, panicking. "I-I can't die! Everybody would be devastated! And I've never been to France! And I never got to write my autobiography! You can't write a book when you're dead! I wanna-"

"Okay, chill!" Geoff yelled, clearly even more panicked than she was. "Let me think…"

Marilee face-palmed as she continued to sink. "I'm _doomed_…"

Geoff looked at his surroundings, stroking his chin in thought. He happened upon a random vine a few feet away from them. "That's it!" He yanked the vine off from whatever it was growing off of and tossed one end to his sister. "I'll pull you out! You'll probably lose your shoes, but-"

"What?" Marilee shrieked, looking appalled. "Are you kidding me? These are my favorite knee high boots and they were really expensive and-"

"You got them for Christmas! It's not like you wasted any money on them or anything!"

"Um, hello, I got them for my _birthday_!"

"What's the difference?"

The quicksand was up to the middle of her calves by now. "… Twenty four hours."

Geoff sighed, gripping his end of the vine even tighter. "Marilee, would you rather live, or die in those stupid boots?"

Marilee looked up and tapped her chin, like she actually had to give that some thought.

"MARILEE!"

She rolled her eyes and wrapped the vine around her hands to get a tight grip. "Fine, pull me in."

Geoff had to yank a few times, but with one final heave, he yanked her out of the quicksand just in time. Both landed in a heap in front of the quicksand, her boots sinking in oblivion.

As she watched her boots disappear and she looked at her bare feet, Marilee scowled and stood up. "Well, that's fantastic. Just fan-frickin'-tastic. Look at me! Now I'm going to have to walk around this deathtrap forest with no shoes on!" She growled and kept yelling, "And now my favorite boots are gone forever! Those things probably cost more than Chris' haircut and I'll never get another pair like them! Why-"

* * *

"I know this might be a bit of a shocker to you dudes," Geoff began, looking through the backpack, "but Marilee can get a bit… testy." He pulled something out of the backpack, a juice box, and waved it around. "But you give her one of these bad boys and it cools her right down! Dunno why and I can't remember how I figured it out, but it works, so I ain't gonna argue!"

* * *

Geoff poked the straw into the juice box he pulled out and looked over at Marilee, who was red from screaming so loudly.

"A-And now I'll have blisters and my whole entire life is ruined and-" He forced the juice box straw into her mouth and placed the box in her hands. She looked perplexed at first, but she merely accepted the token and started drinking, her eyes lulling in relaxation.

Geoff grinned and patted her on the shoulder. "There we go!"

* * *

Geoff held up a juice box and proudly grinned. "That's right! Geoff's patented Get-Marilee-To-Chill-Out Technique!" He grinned a while longer, then admitted, "Okay, so it's still pending," and pulled out an official looking piece of paper that verified the pending patent. "But still, don't leave home without a juice box, folks!"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Izzy took a deep sniff and kept walking. "Aaahhh, I missed these woods." She gestured to her surroundings dramatically. "The bountiful amounts of poison ivy, the bloodthirsty critters…" She took another deep whiff. "…The pungent smell of bear urine." She nodded. "Good stuff."

Xavier took a sniff, too. "I don't smell any urine… Just pee."

Izzy took a look around once again and gasped. "Oh, speaking of bears… You guys remember that bear costume I wore last year?"

"That one you wore to scare the snot out of your team?" Herbie asked.

Izzy snapped. "That's the one! I think I left it around here somewhere… You guys wanna see me in it?" She kicked a foot back and cupped her hands together. "It makes me feel like a princess…"

The twins nodded excitedly.

"Okie-dokie!" She sprinted to a Douglas fir and added, "I distinctly remember leaving it riiiiight... Here!" She poked her head around the tree, but found no bear suit behind it. "Gasp!" Izzy exclaimed. "My bear costume! It's gone!" She spun around and took a look at her brothers. "There is a thief among us!"

"It was Herbie!" Xavier yelled, pointing to his brother.

"Nuh-uh!" Herbie exclaimed, jabbing a finger in Xavier's direction. "It musta been him!

"Was not! It was Herbie, Izzy, not me!"

"No! Xavier!"

"Herbie!"

"XAVIER!"

"HERBIE!"

"Izzy!" Izzy yelled. When the twins gave her a confused look, she shrugged and explained, "I didn't wanna be left out… But I didn't mean either of you two. If you had stolen it, you would obviously be wearing it. I mean, who wouldn't want to, right? I even left a few cheese puffs in there…" She snapped her fingers. "That could have been their main motive! Well, nobody gets away with stealing Izzy's bear suit! And especially not her cheese puffs!"

"Whatcha gonna do?" Xavier curiously asked.

"The only thing I can do, baby brother person…" Izzy turned away from the two and the camera panned closer to her face so it could capture the hatred flaring in her green eyes. "I'm going to take them down, even if it's the last thing I do…" She turned back to them and said, "But I will have to go alone. I don't want to risk your young lives…" She bowed to them like a karate sensei and sprinted off without another word.

The redheaded boys watched her as she ran out of sight, unsure of where to go from there. "She… She left us all alone!" Herbie yelled, panicking. "We're gonna die! We're- OOOOH, A STICK!" Calming down, he picked the stick up and started flailing it around.

"Hey! I found a stick, too!" Xavier said, picking up a stick similar to Herbie's.

"Maybe this won't be so bad after all!" Herbie exclaimed, running off with his stick, Xavier close behind.

*T*S*R*

"Are we there yet?"

"No, Zoey," Selena told her, picking a piece of lint off her pink off the shoulder top.

"… Are we-"

"We are NOT starting that again, Zoey," Duncan grumpily told her, looking at the path ahead of them. "If we were there, I think you'd be able to tell."

Zoey blinked. "I guess you're right…"

*T*S*R*

LeShawna looked around as she and Jovie walked, not seeing any traps. "Hmm, this ain't so hard."

Jovie nodded. "Yeah. I'd have thought that Chris would spring some crazy trap on us by now."

"And at least it's a nice day today…"

As soon as LeShawna finished that sentence, thunder clapped and they were immediately drenched from the rain falling on them.

Jovie glared at her. "You just _had _to say that, didn't you?"

Meanwhile, back at camp, Chris was looking at the monitor following the sisters, laughing his head off. He pressed a button on the cloud remote in his hands and another thunderous boom was heard. He looked at the camera and grinned. "Oh, I love this thing… And you thought it just did hail!"

*T*S*R*

Walking with a slump, Marilee mumbled, "Ow, ow, ow," with every step she took. She was already getting blisters from walking around the forest barefoot. "AH!" She lifted her foot up and bounced around on the other. "I think something got caught in my foot! Ouch, it huuuuurts!"

"Let me see," Geoff said, grabbing her foot and taking a look at it. "I don't see anything…"

"I might have athlete's foot! Or burning foot syndrome! Or… Some third foot disease," she gasped dramatically.

"Oh, here's the culprit…" Geoff yanked a small but sharp piece of stone out of the heel of her foot and flicked it away. He let her foot gently drop and rolled his eyes, grinning slightly. "No need for the hysterics, sis…"

Marilee pouted, crossing her arms as they kept walking. "You're the one who couldn't even walk after getting a teensy splinter on your leg."

Geoff crossed his arms, too. "You heard Bridgette. That splinter horribly disfigured me…" He took in a deep breath, like he was trying not to cry. "It was traumatizing. I still wake up screaming in the middle of the night…"

"I know," she told him, not looking amused. "I sleep in the room next to yours at home."

Before he could retort, Herbie and Xavier popped out of a nearby bush and waved at them. "Hi, guys!" Herbie greeted. He turned to his brother and said, "See, told you we'd find somebody…"

"Little dudes?" Geoff questioned. "Where's Izzy?"

"She ran off to find a bear suit or something," Xavier said, waving the twig he found earlier around for no apparent reason.

"And she just left you alone?" Marilee asked, not looking or sounded a bit concerned or interested. Both nodded.

Geoff pulled Marilee aside and said, "We can't just let them wander around by themselves."

"Why can't we?" Marilee asked, crossing her arms tightly over her chest.

"They're on our team, for one thing," Geoff pointed out. "And they could get hurt, for another. Like… a pack of wild wolves could eat them or something."

"… So?"

Geoff grinned slightly. "Mari, come on. You're a pistol, but you would never leave two people, kids especially, alone to die."

Her expression softened; she almost looked hurt. Uncrossing her arms and placing a hand over her heart, she whispered, "It's like you don't even know me, Geoff…"

Geoff sighed. "Look, we have to do this."

Marilee stomped her bare foot and whined, "Geoff, noooo! You know I hate kids!"

"We don't have much of a choice here. If the rest of the team finds out, one of us will probably go home next campfire ceremony."

Marilee glared at him. "You're one of the kids I hate…." Her expression softened and she sighed, knowing he was right. "Oh, fine. I guess it won't be that bad." She walked back over to Herbie and Xavier and said, "C'mon, snot goblins. You're coming with us."

"YAY!" Herbie and Xavier clung to her legs, making her almost lose her balance.

After she stopped flailing her arms in an attempt to say upright, she angrily looked straight ahead, hand outstretched toward Geoff. He yanked a juice box out of nowhere, put the straw in it and handed it to her. She took a long sip and started walking, rather awkwardly since the two boys were still on her legs.

*T*S*R*

"I guess this isn't that bad," Trent said, looking a the pretty scenery of the forest around them. "There haven't been any traps yet…"

"Yeah…" Grace kicked a nearby pebble. "Trent?"

He looked down at her. "Yeah?"

She looked around, then back up at him and asked, "Do you love me?"

He chuckled, "Of course I do, kiddo."

"But… You say you love Gwen, too."

Trent smiled fondly at the thought of his girlfriend. "I do… I really do…"

"But you just said you love me."

"… Uh-huh?"

"Well, which one of us do you love more? It's me, right?"

"Grace, I love you both differently. So technically-"

"But it's _ME_, right?"

Trent sighed, no feeling like arguing anymore. "Yes. It's _you_…"

Grace stopped dead in her tracks, feeling an oh-so-familiar sensation in her lower body. "Um… Trent?"

Trent looked down at his sister. "Yeah?" He took note of the way she was wobbling back and forth, arms tucked between her crossed legs. "Oh, that's a cute dance," he commented, lightly smiling. "Can you save it for later, though? We have to keep going and-"

"I'm not dancin' …" She wiggled around a little and whimpered, "I-I gotta go!"

"Go where?" he asked, oblivious to what she meant at first. He thought it over and his eyes widened. "Oh, _**go**_!" Grace nodded, biting down on her lip. "Why didn't you go before we left?"

"I didn't have to go, then!" She started bobbing up and down, looking pained. "But I gotta go reeeeeal bad now!"

Trent looked around, slightly panicked. There was not a washroom in sight, nor were there any bushes, only trees. He had a real dilemma on his hands. He didn't want to have to walk around with Grace if she reeked of accidental urine. "Okay, don't worry… Just, uh… Squat and do it."

"Squat?" Grace looked around. "Squat where?"

"Here's as good as any place, I guess."

"You mean… On the grass? Ewww…" Grace stuck her tongue out. "I don't wanna tinkle out here!"

Trent rubbed his temples and sighed. His patience was thinning. "We don't have a lot of options here, Grace. You can either go out here or wet your pants. Your choice."

Grace looked around again and sighed. "Okay…" She wandered to the trunk of a nearby tree so that she'd at least have something to lean against, turned her back to it, and was getting ready to pull her skirt and tights down when she noticed that Trent was still staring in her general direction. "Could you… not look, please?"

Trent blinked and nodded. "Oh, right. Sorry." He turned his back to her and the camera panned in on his face, as to give the girl more privacy.

"And close your eyes!"

"Grace, I'm not going to look. Besides, I still can't see you, even with my eyes open."

"Just close 'em, please? I don't wanna take any chances."

"Fine, I'll shut them." However, Trent did not shut his eyes.

"Are they shut?"

"Yes, they are." Liar.

"Okay…" You could hear her fumbling with her clothing, but before she actually pulled anything down, she was quick to add, "And cover your ears and make lots of noise so you can't hear me!"

"What? Grace, don't you think that you're being a little-"

"DO IT BEFORE I PEE ALL OVER MYSELF!"

Trent certainly didn't want that, so he quickly slapped his hands over his ears and sang, "La la la, I can't hear anything! La la la, just go already, Grace! La la la, do it before your big brother's head explodes! La la-"

* * *

Trent gripped his forehead, eyes tightly shut. He obviously had a headache from having to deal with that. "Okay, that was more stressful than it had to be. Sometimes I wish Grace had been born a boy. Then 'he' could have just gone and not cared who saw." He tapped his chin and added, "But if Grace _had _been a boy, my parents would have named her Felix, so…" Trent smiled and shrugged. "I guess things work out for the best…"

* * *

Trent tapped his foot impatiently, eventually giving up on his little song. "You've been over there for a while… You sure you're okay?"

"Still goin' …"

After about half a minute, Trent exasperatedly said, "Seriously, Grace, how much did you drink today?"

"I dunno… All I had was some special fruit punch that Chef gave me."

"… What made it… _Special?"_

* * *

Chef waved a bottle of bright red liquid around and chuckled evilly. "This stuff works just like laxatives, only it messes up your bladder instead of your bowels. Bought it from the same creepy voodoo chick I got the wackadoo elixir from." He grinned and added, "And it's got a great fruity taste! I could have given it to everybody, but I decided to only give it to Little Scary Girl instead. She called me a fathead!" He started to tear up and whimpered, "Nobody makes fun of my head's weight problems! NOBODY!" He dropped the bottle and loudly sobbed into his hands.

* * *

"Are you almost done?" Trent asked, tired of waiting.

"… Nope…"

He sighed, "At this point, I don't care if you do pee yourself…"

"I'll be done soon… Wait… For… It… Done!" Trent heard her fumbling with her clothing once again and sighed in relief. He heard her gasp. "Trent, Trent! Come look!"

"You're not going to show me what you… did, are you?" Trent asked as Grace ran toward him. "That was sort of cute during potty training, but it'd just be kind of gross now…"

"No, no! I think it's something important!" She ran over to him and grabbed his hand, dragging him toward a tree close to the one she had been by. He had to awkwardly walk with her, since her grabbing his hand made him bend over and have to almost squat, due to their major size differences. "Look!"

Trent bent down farther to look at what she was trying to show him. All that was behind the tree was a long piece of rope. "A rope? Why'd you want to show me this?" He reached toward the rope to get a better look at it to see what the big deal was.

Grace gasped and tugged on his pant leg. "Wait, no! I think it's a-"

Yanking on the rope triggered a net to swoop the two up, much like Owen had been a few challenges back.

Grace looked at what happened and weakly sighed, "Trap…"

"Of course," Trent muttered as he slapped his forehead. "Well, we should remain calm and wait for someone to find us. I guess it at least can't get much worse…"

"Uh-oh…" He looked down to see Grace in the same uncomfortable position as she had been in a while back. "I hafta go potty again!"

Trent's expression was blank for the longest time, until he twisted himself around in the net and screamed, "HELP!" He shook the net slightly and yelled, "C'mon, let me outta this crazy thing!"

* * *

Herbie and Xavier? Actually part of a plot for once? GASP!

Yeah, I don't really use those two lil monkeys for much… Time for them to shine a little!

The Trent and Grace potty emergency was based off this story a friend from school told me about when him and his baby sister were in the woods and she had to go. Twas funneh, so I had to write something like that… XD He also mentioned that during potty training, she'd like make everybody in their house look at what she… 'did.' Kids are weird… :3

And I know a few certain characters didn't get enough screen time. Don't worry, they will… Oh, they will… :D

So what will happen to our brave campers? What's gonna go down with Herbie, Xavier, Geoff and Marilee? Will Izzy find her beat suit and the their behind its disappearance? Will Trent and Grace get out in time? Will Ceith be allowed to change his name back to Keith? Find out in the next installment of Total! Sibling! Rivalry!


	30. Day 12, Part 2: Grin and Bear It

**EDIT: I had to fix something. Enjoy (again) :3**

Phew, sorry for such a hiatus. Holidays and all that jazz :P

Here's a quick recap, of those of you that forgot what's happening:

LeShawna and Jovie are stuck in the rain, Izzy has abandoned her brothers to find her missing bear suit, so Geoff and Marilee have taken Herbie and Xavier under their wings, Grace and Trent are stuck in a net several dozen feet in the air, Candace, Courtney, Cody and Keith have been christened The Killer Cs and Chris has changed Keith's name to Ceith so their team name makes more sense, Gwen and Heather (plus DJ) aren't off to that great of a start, and Selena, Duncan, and Zoey… They haven't done much, I guess.

Sucks to be all of them xD Read, review and enjoy! :D

* * *

Marilee looked around, huffy about the fact that they were stuck with Herbie and Xavier. Not to mention the fact that they still wouldn't let go of her legs.

"You know, it doesn't look like there's going to be any bushes for a while," she said aloud, sounding a little too friendly. "Maybe you two little… sweethearts should go to the bathroom before we keep going."

"I don't hafta go!" Xavier exclaimed, burying his face in her thigh.

"And we wanna stay with you guys!" Herbie yelled. "You give good rides! Prolly 'cause you got such fat legs!"

Geoff could see a vein starting to throb on his sister's neck after he said that, so he nervously said, "Uh, she's right, little dudes. Just go pee or find more sticks to fight with or eat some bugs or whatever for a minute…"

Xavier and Herbie didn't look happy about it, but they got off of her and ran off.

Once they were out of sight, Marilee grabbed her brother's wrist and yanked on it. "C'mon, let's amscray before they come back!"

"Mar, I already told you we can't leave them!" Geoff whined, pulling her hand off of him.

Marilee glared at him, arms crossed. "Of all times in the world to be responsible for something, you choose _now_?"

"C'mon, sis, it won't be that bad!" he said, trying to convince her. "Little kids are fun!"

"No, they aren't!" she yelled. "They pick their noses and burp and poop and make fart noises with their armpits!"

Geoff shrugged. "I did half that stuff a while before we found them and you're still putting up with me."

Marilee pouted and turned away from him, arms tightly crossed over her chest.

* * *

"I guess I'm being a little immature," Marilee admitted. "But Geoff is being surprisingly mature today." She scratched her chin in thought for a second, then her eyes widened. "It's those twins. They've caused the Apocalypse!"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Trent panted, still trying to yell for help to get down from the net. He had been yelling for a while, so he was almost out of breath. "Help… Help…"

Grace was sitting right next to him, since the net was kind of small and didn't give them much room to move around. She piped up, "Trent?"

Sighing and giving up, he shut his eyes in exhaustion and asked, "Yes?"

"I'm sorry I got us stuck…" She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "I'm a dummy…"

Trent opened his eyes to look down at her and said, "No, you're not. This is sort of my fault, anyway. Guess we'll just have to wait here until somebody lets us down…"

"Yeah…" She looked around for a second, then added, "If it makes you feel better, I don't hafta go anymore…"

He sighed in slight relief. "It sort of does, actually…" He frowned and muttered, "But now I sort of have to."

Grace nodded, trying to give him a little smile, and slowly attempted to scoot as far away from him as possible.

*T*S*R*

"Cool, a Swiss army knife," Duncan said, pulling it out of the backpack. "Guess who's not getting this back?"

"Chris?" Zoey suggested.

Duncan snapped his free fingers. "Exactamundo."

"Just don't poke your eye out," Selena warned him, grabbing the backpack for herself. "You're already scary enough. The last thing you need is an eye patch.

As Duncan flipped the biggest blade out of the handle, Holly and Tamyra jumped out from behind a tree, both wielding a water balloon in each hand. Their loud battle cries faded when they saw the size of the blade the punk had.

Duncan raised his unibrow and smirked, waving the army knife slightly. "You really wanna do that, ladies?"

"Uh…" The interns exchanged nervous glances, then looked back at the three and grinned. "You guys have a pleasant hike!" Tamyra said, dropping her water balloons and dragging Holly away from him as quickly as possible.

"… Chris is lame at coming up with traps," Zoey commented.

"He sure is," Selena agreed, while Duncan only nodded and started walking again.

*T*S*R*

Marilee was still drinking her juice box, while Geoff was walking alongside her and Herbie and Xavier were sword fighting with their sticks while walking with them. With one final suck, she smashed her juice box with her hand and tossed it behind her back.

As soon as the box made contact with the forest ground, Jovie, who was still being drenched by Chris' rain cloud and had to be a few miles away, stopped dead in her tracks. She felt her Litter Senses tingling.

LeShawna stopped and turned around to look at her younger sister. "What's wrong, girl?"

Jovie, looking confused, crossed her arms and said, "I don't know why, but I just had the sudden urge to punch Marilee in the face…"

Back with Marilee and the boys, Herbie and Xavier had gotten bored of their sword fight, so they were trying to think of something different to do. Xavier decided to have some fun with Marilee.

Poking her hip with his stick, he asked, "Why do you look so grumpy?"

She smacked the stick away and grumbled, "Because my life is back to sucking, that's why… And your stick isn't helping very much…"

Not understanding why his stick didn't make her happier, Xavier poked her again. "Why not?"

"Because it's pointy," she muttered bitterly.

"Oh…" He poked her thigh. "What does antidisestablishmentarianism mean?"

Marilee looked down at Xavier, totally perplexed. "How the heck should I know?"

Poke. "Why do hot dogs come in packs of ten if hot dog buns only come in packs of eight?"

"Again, how should I know?"

Poke. "Why are your eyes so blue?"

"Because I paid a lot of money for these contacts!"

Poke. "Where do-"

Having all she could take, she snatched his stick and screamed, "If you don't stop with the moronic questions, I'm gonna shove this stick right up your-"

Geoff slapped a hand over her mouth. "Marilee! You can't say _that_ in front of them!"

She pried his hand off her mouth and said, "What? I was going to say 'nose'…" She threw the stick back at Xavier and pouted. "Fine. Take their side. My own brother is against me…"

"Aww…" Geoff started digging around in the backpack again. "Does somebody want another juice box?"

Marilee pouted even more. "Geoffrey, I am not a baby… Give me a juice _pouch,_ for God's sake."

He pulled out a juice pouch and gave it to her. As they kept walking, she gloomily drank it.

* * *

Marilee finished up her juice pouch, sighed happily and tossed the empty pouch on the floor of the outhouse. She looked up at the camera and arched an eyebrow. "What? A fourteen year old girl can't enjoy some juice?"

* * *

*T*S*R*

"… Duncan, Zoey's touching me."

"Zoey, stop touching her."

"I'm not touching her."

"Yes, you are!" Selena exclaimed, glaring down at her little sister.

"Nuh-uh!" Zoey shook her head. "I'm just holding it really close to your leg!" Zoey's pointer finger was about a centimeter away from Selena's leg, but it technically wasn't touching her skin.

"Well, then stop holding it really close to my leg!" she yelled. "It's obnoxious!"

"You're numoxious! …Whatever that means!"

"Stop fighting," Duncan irritably muttered, still not looking at the two. "You're _both_ obnoxious, okay?"

"Selena's more numoxious!" Zoey said, finger still dangerously close to Selena's leg.

"You're waaaay more numoxious!" Selena whined. "Duncan, make her stooooop! She's-"

Having all that he could take, Duncan spun around and yelled, "If you two don't shut up, I will turn this hike right around!"

The girls stared at him, wide eyed, and nodded in agreement, not daring to argue. Zoey let her hand drop to her side, and Selena was finally able to calm down.

They kept walking for a while, until Duncan stopped, needing a bathroom break. He handed Selena the backpack with their supplies and said, "I'll be right back. Just stay here and try not to kill each other." He ran off to get some privacy, leaving Selena and Zoey alone.

*T*S*R*

Heather stopped telling her story to the group, needed to laugh. "A-And ketchup went everywhere!" She and DJ started laughing, while Gwen just rolled her eyes.

"I bet you dropped the bottle on purpose," she mused, crossing her arms over her chest. "You said that girl sitting at the table next to yours had a really nice top on, so the only thing your sick, twisted little mind could focus on was ruining it."

Heather frowned and looked down at her feet. "Actually, it only got on mine. It wasn't really funny then, but it is now…"

Gwen glared at her. "Don't pull the whole 'Gwen's being mean to me, so I'm going to act all sheepish' thing. We all know you're still the same Heather, so just go ahead and insult me. Call me a weird Goth girl. Make fun of my hair or my clothes or my taste in anything that's different than yours. Just do something already!"

"Gwen, please," DJ pleaded, placing a comforting hand on Heather's shoulder. "Heather's not mean anymore."

"And how do you know that for sure?" Gwen asked skeptically, stopping dead in her tracks to look at him.

DJ and Heather stopped, too. "Because she looked me dead in the eye and said she wasn't like she was before," he explained. "And when she did, her eyes didn't have that same glare they used to. They were much kinder…"

Gwen's frown tightened and she kept walking without another word.

* * *

"Heather wasn't nearly as horrible to DJ as she was to me," Gwen told the camera, and continued, "and DJ is a bit too forgiving. If Heather really has changed, it's most likely not for the better."

* * *

"That was really nice of DJ to stand up for me like that," Heather commented, smiling slightly. "He's been such a great friend since the season started."

* * *

*T*S*R*

Izzy was far away from the woods by now, crawling on her hands and knees toward Chris' production campgrounds. She was looking for clues as to where her bear suit went. She finally found some.

"Aha!" She jumped up, something clenched in each fist. She opened the first one, revealing a clump of fake brown fur. The other fist had a stray cheese puff in it. "I'm getting closer… I can feel it in my tibias…"

*T*S*R*

Mia, inside one of the production tents, slipped her arm into the last arm of the bear suit and groaned. "Chris, this is dumb."

"Wow… This really _is _dumb," Chris said off-screen.

"Thank you," Mia sighed, waddling over to him, since the bear suit made it hard to walk. She found him sitting at a desk.

He looked over his shoulder at her and said, "No, not whatever you were whining about. _This_." He looked back down at the desk. There was a piece of paper in front of him that he had written _Ceith _on. Courtney was right. This version of the name really _does_ look stupid."

Mia rolled her eyes and said, "Well, I still think this is a lame idea."

Chris stood up and slung an arm around her shoulder, or at least attempted to, since the suit made her shoulders extra large. "C'mon, it'll be fun! You'll scare them crapless, they'll run away, and then you can come back and have a latté."

"Nobody's going to buy it," Mia pointed out. "The psycho redhead girl tried it last year, so they'll just think it's her. Besides, this suit is disgusting! And there's something crunchy in the feet!"

"Oh, those might be cheese puffs," Chris said with a shrug. "I tried to shake them out of it on my way here, but I didn't really try that hard."

"Where'd you find this nasty suit, anyway?"

"… That's not important. Get out there!"

Mia rolled her eyes and walked out, grumbling to herself.

*T*S*R*

After Duncan finished up, he stared walking back to where he had left his sisters. As he got closer, he heard Selena giggling.

"What's so funny, cupcake?" Duncan yelled with a small smirk. "You kill Zoey while I was gone or something?" He walked through a bush and gawked at what, or rather who, he saw. "_Justin_?"

Justin was standing in front of the two girls, looking as handsome as ever. Selena was giggling like a maniac and tugging on her hair from his immense beauty and Zoey just stared up at him, wide-eyed. Justin looked over at Duncan and waved. "Hey there. Funny running into you here, huh?"

"… You mean in the middle of a forest on this dumpy island? Dude, why are you here? You're not even competing this season."

Justin shrugged. "It's not my fault I'm an only child. It's too bad I am, though." He walked closer to Selena and scratched under her chin with his finger. "I would love to have sisters as cute as yours."

Selena gasped, started hyperventilating and giggled some more.

Duncan suddenly got more angry. "Hey, she's thirteen, man! Back off!"

"Why, I didn't mean it like that, Duncan," the model insisted, backing away from her slightly. "I'm just saying you have very charming siblings. How could you be angry about that?"

Duncan calmed down and walked closer toward them. "Well… I guess I can't, but-" He stopped mid-sentence, noticing what was slung on Justin's toned shoulder. "Why do you have our backpack? That has all our supplies in it!"

Justin looked at the backpack, like he had almost forgotten about it. "Oh, this?" He chuckled and said, "When I ran into these two, we started talking. I mentioned that I like backpacks full of supplies essential to survival, and Selena was kind enough to give me yours."

"What?" Duncan shoved Selena, but she barely budged. "Why'd you do that, moron?"

She was still focusing on Justin, like she was in a hypnotic trance. "Because… He has such beautiful…. Earlobes."

Duncan slapped his forehead. "You can't even see them! His girly hair covers them!"

Justin pushed his hair back a little so she could see his heavenly earlobes. "Happy?"

She started giggling again and bounced up and down a little, nodding like crazy.

"Look, give me the backpack," Duncan started, glaring at the teen model, "and no one gets hurt."

Justin laughed. "You wouldn't really try to pummel me."

"Oh, really?" Duncan took a powerful swing, which Justin dodged while letting out a girlish squeal. He ran off, yelling "Not the face!" as he raced away.

Duncan groaned in frustration and muttered, "This must have been one of Chris' traps…"

Selena stared longingly at him as he ran off, but once he was out of sight, she snapped out of it. "What? What happened?"

"You just gave all our stuff to that freak, that's what happened!" Duncan snapped, glaring at her.

Selena's eyes narrowed. "Hey, you try looking at a face that magnificent and not melt."

Duncan rolled his eyes and looked down at Zoey, who still had a blank expression. "And you weren't much help, either! And what are you gawking at?" She still said nothing. He looked more concerned now. "… Zoey? You okay?"

Zoey finally said something. "He's… So… Pretty." With that, she fainted.

Duncan groaned and slapped his forehead again.

"Still this is not my fault," Selena added. "My weakness for cute boys cannot be controlled." She sighed and added, "That's one of the many reasons why I like Zack…"

Duncan scoffed and laughed wildly. "Are you _serious_? The dude's probably the ugliest kid on this island!"

As he continued to laugh, something inside Selena snapped. "Nobody makes fun of my Zackie-kins!" She jumped on Duncan's back and grabbed him in a headlock. Duncan, slightly choked, grabbed her long blonde hair by the pink-dyed tips and yanked as hard as he could to get he to let go. She yelped in pain, but only made her headlock on him tighter.

Zoey sat up, rubbed her head where she hit it, and looked up to find her siblings fighting. She pulled a twig out of her short black hair and sighed. "We're not gonna win."

*T*S*R*

As the Killer Cs kept walking, Candace was blabbing away on a cell phone with one of her cheerleader friends back home. Courtney, Cody and Ceith were farther behind, being more silent.

Ceith looked around, like he was expecting Chris to pop out at any second. When he saw no sign of Chris, he asked, "Can I be Keith with a K again?"

"Why are you asking us?" Cody asked.

Courtney said, "As far as we're concerned, the spelling never changed."

Keith smiled. "Cool."

The three had walked closer to Candace, who was still chatting away on her cell. She gasped at what her friend said. "No way! Paige and Turner are together? No. Way!"

Cody giggled silently to himself. "Hehe. Page turner…"

Courtney glared at him, making him shrink back sheepishly and quietly apologize for his pun.

"You are not serious!" Candace yelled, smiling brightly. "Brenda got together with Chase? Aww, they would make such a cute couple!" She giggled as her friend continued to dish out the latest gossip to her. "Wait, no. You are _not _serious. _Jay_ and _Ella _are together now? No way. No way! NO! WAY!"

"YES!" Courtney snapped, making the group stare at her in shock. "YES way! Jay and Elle are together, Emily's pregnant and Johnny's the father, Harper the snob's dad took away her credit card, and Luanne the aspiring actress _is_ jealous that you got on TV before she did! Sheesh, are you not even paying attention? She's saying these things clear as day, but you keep denying _all _of them!"

Candace stared at Courtney for a moment, cell phone still in her hand and her friend still chatting away like nothing was happening. Candace held the phone back to her ear and said, ""Uh, Ally? … I'm gonna have to call you back." She shut her phone and put it back in her pocket. "Was I... bothering you, Courtney?"

Courtney calmed down a little and sighed. "Sort of. I guess I overreacted a little, though. Still, I thought that girl was your friend. Why'd you accuse her of lying?"

Candace gasped, like that was one of the most insulting things that could be said to her. "I wasn't! Ally's my BFF! I just said no way so much because the stuff she was saying was, like, so incredibly unbelievable."

Courtney crossed her arms. "Oh. Still, could you tone it down a bit? Your yelling might give away where we are to the others and they'll get ahead of us."

"Okay… Can I still talk on my cellie?"

"… No."

"Oh, come on, Courtney," Cody said, feeling bad for Candace. "She probably misses her friends. Just let her talk to 'em."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Fine."

Like clockwork, Candace's phone rang. She pulled it out and answered. "Hello? … OMG, Phoebe! Hey, girl! … Oh, I miss you all, too! Hey, are Summer and Kiki talking again? Ally said they were fighting or something… Oh, I don't blame her. Summer can be a little annoying sometimes. She, like, never shuts up!"

* * *

Courtney heaved a big sigh and muttered, "I'm starting to know how Kiki feels…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

LeShawna dragged Jovie under a tree so they could get away from the rain cloud that was following them. They needed some shelter for a least a while.

"Girl, I just got over a cold," Jovie complained, ringing water out of her short black hair. "I'm gonna get another one, at this rate!"

"Maybe if we walk under this clump of trees coming up, it won't be that bad," LeShawna mused, looking at the long strip of big, shady trees ahead of them. "I guess while we're here, we might as well stop for lunch." She took the backpack off and unzipped it. "Let's see… Um… Ham sandwich, turkey sandwich, pork rinds…"

"Bleh," Jovie muttered, sticking her tongue out in disgust. "Didn't he pack any food in there that doesn't involve dead animals?"

"Um… No."

Jovie groaned, "Shawnie, I can't eat any of that stuff! I'm a vegetarian!"

"What, you think I don't already know that?" LeShawna asked in annoyance. She continued to look. "Wait, there's a chocolate bar in here. _This Is Totally Chocolate_… Huh, never heard of that brand. You gonna spaz out since it has milk in it?"

Jovie rolled her eyes. "I don't love animals that much, girl. Toss it over."

*T*S*R*

"Ninety nine bottles of pop on the wall… Ninety nine bottles of pop…" Trent wearily sang in order to keep himself amused and awake.

Grace, having all she could take of his singing, said, "Trent, I love a good sing-along just as much as the next kid… But it's not very fun when you don't take any bottles off the wall after each verse. Those ninety nine dumb old bottles have been on the dumb wall forever now."

Trent sighed and said, "But I like that number…"

Grace pouted and mumbled, "Fine, keep singing, then. We're never gonna get down, anyway. We're gonna be up here forever and ever and ever and-"

"Grace," Trent interrupted, "we're not going to be stuck up here forever."

Grace's face got a little less worried. "… I guess I was being silly…"

Trent grinned, glad that he had made her feel better. "Yeah. And besides, if nobody comes to get us, we won't be stuck up here for all of eternity. I mean, we'd probably die of starvation in a few days…"

"…" After a few seconds of silence, Grace broke out sobbing.

After thinking over what he said, Trent face palmed.

* * *

"I've got to learn to quit while I'm ahead," Trent sighed.

* * *

*T*S*R*

It was silent between Marilee, Geoff, Herbie and Xavier for a while. Marilee had finished her third juice pouch and had her eyes shut while she was still walking. She kept muttering to herself, which even Herbie and Xavier thought was weird.

"What's she doing?" Herbie asked Geoff.

"She's in her Happy Place," Geoff responded, taking a quick glance at his sister.

"Happy Place?" Xavier repeated, confused.

* * *

"Yeah, she goes to her Happy Place when she doesn't want to be where she actually is," Geoff explained to the camera. "She blocks everything out and just thinks about stuff she likes, I guess… Her therapist Charlie recommended she do it so she doesn't start hitting people with shoes… Even though she doesn't have any right now…

* * *

"Why's she there when she could be here?" Herbie asked. "We'd have enough peoples to play Four-way Toss the Slug."

"Uh…" The blonde teen didn't want to crush the kids' spirits by telling them that Marilee couldn't stand them, so he lamely said, "I dunno."

"Where's her Happy Place at?" Herbie asked.

Geoff shrugged. "She won't tell me. She's afraid I'll show up."

Marilee, still oblivious to their conversation, giggled with a big smile on her face. "These are cute shoes… And they're just my size…"

Geoff's brows furrowed in thought. Now he sort of was curious as to where her Happy Place was. And how she was walking with her eyes closed…

* * *

I dunno how she can walk with looking where she's going. I can barely walk with my eyes open," Geoff commented. "Maybe she has Spidey Senses…" He gasped, his eyes widening. "Oh, my gosh… My sister is Spider Man… AWESOME! I'M SPIDER MAN'S BIG BRO!" He laughed and exclaimed, "Wait 'til the guys back home here this!"

* * *

"Sounds like she's in a shoe store," he said, jerking a thumb at the girl.

"Mmm, this is good ice cream," Marilee whispered, licking her lips.

"Or maybe it's a mall… Or a shoe store with an ice cream place built in…"

Suddenly, she started giggling. "Hehehe… Stop it, Keith. That tickles… I said stop!" Geoff raised a confused eyebrow. What was Happy Place Keith doing to his sister? "Teehee! C'mon, stop! You're gonna give me a hickey!"

"Okay, you've had enough Happy Place," Geoff yelled, his older brother instincts kicking in. "Time to come back to the real world before I kick Happy Place Keith's butt!" He grabbed her arm, making her snap out of her trance.

"Huh?" Not even a second after she opened her eyes did Marilee run into a tree.

"… Oops," Geoff mumbled with a cringe. "I thought her Spidey Senses would have seen that coming…"

*T*S*R*

It was quiet between Heather, Gwen and DJ. No matter what Heather or DJ said, it always seemed to stem back to how nasty Heather had been last year.

Heather didn't blame Gwen for anything. If she had been in her place, she would be acting twice as mean as Gwen was acting toward her.

The silence was broken when they heard something rustling through the bushes.

"What was that?" Gwen asked, a little bit of shakiness in his voice.

"I… I don't know," Heather said, even more shakily than Gwen had said it. By this point, DJ was cowering behind her in fear.

Suddenly, a huge bear awkwardly waddled out of the bushes, its claws held over its head threateningly. "Um… Rawr! Grrrrr! Groooowwwl!"

Despite how totally unthreatening the "bear" sounded, it was still enough to make the trio run the other way screaming.

As soon as they were gone, he bear removed its head, revealing it was only Mia. "Ugh, I should have just gone to summer school…"

*T*S*R*

"… Stop staring at me like that," Selena mumbled, casting a glance at her brother. Her hair was messed up from their fight and she had a big, blood-caked scrape on her cheek, but she didn't seem to care about either of those things.

Duncan continued to glare at her. He had small, barely noticeable bruises on his neck where Selena had strangled him and some very noticeable scratch marks on "No. I'm going to keep staring at you because it bugs you, just like giving our food and stuff away **BUGS ME**."

"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?" she asked, crossing her arms. "Sheesh, one mistake in thirteen years…"

"ONE mistake?" Duncan asked, sounding like he was ready to explode with laughter. "HA! What about the time you wore Pop's uniform when you repainted your bedroom?"

Selena stopped walking and cringed at the memory. "At least it was _blue _paint…"

"Or the time last month when you knocked Aunt Claudia into our pool?"

"… At least that dress she was wearing wasn't _too_ expensive… Only two hundred bucks…"

"Or the time you stuffed three doughnuts into Uncle Scott's VCR?"

"I was three! That's a cheap shot!"

"Or the-"

"Okay, I get it!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "I'm not perfect! But this doesn't mean much from the big fat criminal! I can't even _list _all the awful stuff you've done!"

"Why don't you stand up on that stump and say that to my face?"

Selena gasped. "You know I'm sensitive about how vertically challenged I am! And it's not like you're the tallest guy around!"

"At least I've ridden a roller coaster before!" Duncan spat back.

"Ooooh, good one!" Selena mockingly exclaimed. "Where'd you get that one, the crappy comeback store?"

"That was even lamer!"

"You're lame!"

"You are!"

"You!"

"You! Right, Zoey? … **Right**, Zoey? … Zoey?" Duncan looked down and all around, but there was no Zoey in sight. He looked back at Selena and shoved her. "Oh, way to go, stupid! You lost her!"

"Did not!" Selena whined. "And you're the stupid one! Your last report card had so many Fs… That you looked like an awful student!" she lamely replied.

"Let me guess, you got that one from the crappy comeback store?" Duncan asked as he crossed his arms and smirked.

"Lemme guess, you got that one from the crappy comeback store?" Selena shot back in a mocking, stupid tone.

"When are you gonna grow up?"

"When are you gonna stop being so ugly?"

"Why, you little-"

"_Ooooh, a kitty_!" an echoic voice exclaimed.

The siblings stopped fighting and turned to find out where that familiar voice came from. "That sounded like Zoey," Selena commented.

"Yeah," Duncan said with a nod. "But where'd it come from?"

They got their answer when they turned to find a cave, one that would make a little girl's voice very echoey… But there surely wouldn't be a kitty in it…

"… Zoey!" They ran toward the cave, leaving their petty and lame argument behind.

*T*S*R*

"This chocolate bar tastes weird," Jovie mused, mouth full.

"Then why'd you eat most of it?" LeShawna asked with a small smile as she finished her ham sandwich.

"Because it's either that or eat… meat." She shuddered and finished off her candy, crumpling the wrapper up and stuffing it in her jean shorts' pocket.

"At least the rain finally cleared up," LeShawna mentioned, walking out from under the trees they were using as an umbrella. Jovie nodded and followed her back out into the sunshine.

The next couple of minutes were pretty uneventful, until Jovie stopped dead in her tracks, clutching her stomach. "Whoa… Something ain't right here."

"You okay, hun?" LeShawna asked, putting a comforting hand on her back.

"Yeah, I… Whoa, hold that thought!" Without another word, she raced to the left, trying to find a secluded bush.

* * *

Chris grinned a cheeky grin and held up a chocolate bar that looked exactly like Jovie's. "One word." He ripped the sticker that read _This Is Totally Chocolate_, revealing the word _Laxatives_ in bright red letters. "Laxatives!"

* * *

*T*S*R*

"Grace, please… Please stop crying," Trent pleaded, hugging his sister as tightly as he could without hurting her. "I was just kidding about the dying thing. We're going to be just fine."

Grace only buried her face in his chest more and slid further into his lap. Her sobbing was making the net sway a little more than Trent would have liked.

"C'mon, we'll get out of this," he told her. "Have I ever let you down before?"

Grace let out a few more dry sobs, then was silent for a few seconds. She wiped her nose on his shirt, which he tried not to look too grossed-out about, and mumbled, "No.."

"Maybe there's something in the backpack that can help us!" Trent proclaimed, realization hitting him.

"You mean the one you dropped when the net caught us?" Grace asked, pointing to the ground.

Trent repeated, "Yes, the one I dropped when…" He stopped talking and looked down to where she was pointing. The backpack was on the ground a few feet away from where they had been standing. "Oh… Right."

Grace sighed and snuggled closer to her brother. He wrapped an arm around her and they just enjoyed the quietness for a moment until Trent awkwardly asked, "Grace… _Please_ tell me that warm liquid trickling through my shirt are your tears…"

"Uh… No."

"GRACE!" Trent yelled, pulling her off of him and lifting her in front of him. "That's just **gross**!"

Grace blushed, slightly embarrassed. "What? I-I told you I didn't hafta _go_ anymore, so it's not that, either! Double swearsies!"

A huge drop of clear goop fell on Grace's head, running from her hair to her forehead. "Eeeeeew," she whined, wiping it off with her sleeve. "Some yucky gunk just fell on my head!"

Both looked up to see the source of the watery substance. A rather unfriendly looking raccoon was peering down at them, foam brimming around its mouth. It growled menacingly.

They gaped at it in fear and Trent pulled Grace closer to him and scooted them as far away as possible. "Uh… Good raccoon… Nice raccoon…"

The creature hissed, showing off its shiny, sharp teeth at them.

The siblings could only shake in fear. They were too freaked out to even scream.

* * *

Grace looked around, still looking shook up and whispered, "Don't tell Trent, but I sorta _did_ pee on him after that… I didn't mean to and don't think he really woulda cared at the time… It's not like it was the worst thing that could have happened…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

"Uh…" Geoff looked around, unsure of what to say. "Sorry about… Making you run into a tree and stuff."

"Whatever," Marilee muttered, tracing a finger on the red spot where her face had smacked against the bark. "It's not the worst thing that's happened today…" She looked down to glare at the redheaded twins, but noticed something. "Um… Unless I've been hallucinating this whole time and that bonk on the noggin made me see normally again, I could have sworn there were two of you rugrats."

Herbie looked around. His brother was nowhere in sight. "Hey, where'd Xavier go?"

Before anyone had the chance to answer, a gray blur shot out in front of them, making them come to a halt. Once the blur stopped, they saw it was a huge wolf.

Everybody looked shell-shocked for a while, because this wolf looked HUGE, not to mention _hungry…_

Marilee, not moving, whispered to Geoff, "If we had just let those two get eaten by wolves in the first place, this fleabag wouldn't be looking for seconds!"

* * *

Snap, everybody be in trouble :o

Hope y'all liked! Please review O3O


	31. Day 12, Part 3: Of Wolves and Weddings

Well, another chapter, another dollar.

Haha. I wish I was really getting paid for this.

Just warning ya, things are gonna get a little weird, and you'll know what I'm talking about when you get to it. Just stick with me here, people. It'll make sense after a while ;)

And to Mia's creator… I'm sorry about this chapter xD

Next chapter's a Playa De Losers chapter. We get to see Zack, Owen and whoever gets kicked out today again! :D

Well, read, review and enjoy! :D

* * *

"Zoey?" Selena called out as she and Duncan entered the cave, her voice echoing against the cave walls. "Zoey? Stay away from the kitty!"

They wandered farther into the cave and were entirely enveloped in the darkness. "Zoey, get out here right now or else you'll get the butt kicking of a lifetime!"

Despite the darkness, you could still see Selena roll her bright blue eyes. "We're trying to _encourage _her to come out, Mister Rocket Surgeon!"

"Rocket surgeon?" Duncan repeated, flabbergasted at that statement. "Seriously, how stupid are you?"

"Okay, we need to stop this," Selena firmly told him, narrowing her eyes. "Us fighting is what made Zoey wander off in the first place. We need to put this little dispute aside and find our sister."

"Huh," he mumbled. "I guess you're right… Had to happen sooner or later."

They continued to trek through the cave, calling out for Zoey. As they kept on getting no reply, they were starting to worry, but a little voice finally called out, "Duncan? Selena?"

They saw her big green eyes and sighed in relief. "Zoey, thank goodness you're safe," Selena muttered.

"Yeah, you getting eaten by bears would be kind of hard to explain to Ma when we get back home…" Duncan said in agreement.

"Well, guess we'd better get-" Before she finished, Selena noticed something strange. Zoey's eyes were up far too high for her height. "How'd you get taller?" she asked. "Are you sitting on a rock or something?"

"No… It doesn't feel like a rock."

"… Whatever, let's just go." She grabbed for her hand, but all she grabbed was a handful of short hair, followed by a growl. "Oops, sorry… Has your hair always been this short?"

"This is no time to talk about her latest hairstyle," Duncan told her. "Let's just get out of here. By the sound of that growl, she must be starving…"

"That wasn't my belly," Zoey stated.

"Then what the heck- BAH!" Duncan screamed in shock. His eyes wandered over to look at Selena in disgust. "Selena, I know you miss Zack, but clawing at my butt?" He shook his head. "Even _you're_ not desperate!"

"Uh, Duncan… I'm over here."

"… Oh. I didn't think your fingernails were that sharp… Then who…" Another growl interrupted him. "Wait… There's a flashlight in the Swiss army knife I swiped."

As he dug around in his pocket for it, Selena skeptically asked, "What kind of a pocket knife has a flashlight in it? How would it fit in the handle thingy?"

"Who cares? Do you want light or not?" He finally found it and flipped the small flashlight out. Surprisingly, it produced a huge light. A huge enough light to see that Zoey was sitting on the back of a very irritable grizzly bear, and Selena had a clump of the fur from its head in her hand.

"Uh…" Selena grinned a fake grin, released the bear's fur and patted it on the head a few times. "Nice bear…" It snapped its teeth at her hand, but she luckily drew it back in time.

The camera went to a shot outside the cave, where Selena and Duncan, Zoey tucked under his arm, ran out, screaming their heads off. They were barely ten feet away from the opening when they bumped into another bear. This bear didn't look quite as frightening. It was more irritated, really. Still, that didn't freak the siblings out any less. They screamed even louder and ran to the left, hoping not to run into a third bear.

When they were out of sight, the 'bear' removed its head, revealing that it was only Mia. "I didn't even do anything that time!"

*T*S*R*

As Grace and Trent cowered in fear of the foaming raccoon, the latter said, "W-Well… A-At least we had fu-full lives!"

"I'm th-three!" Grace screamed.

"… I never said yours was a long one!" Trent yelled back.

"Wait, look!" Grace pointed up to the raccoon. It, looking a little less scary, started chewing on the ropes of the net with its sharp teeth. "It's helping us! Go, Mister Rabid Raccoon, go!" she cheered.

After a few more nibbles in the right places, there were enough ropes snapped so that the siblings both fell out of the tree, Grace landing on Trent's stomach once they hit the ground.

Trent groaned, only sighing in relief once Grace slid off. "Ugh… You okay?" He asked, eyes shut in pain as he rubbed his head.

"I guess…"

Trent opened his eyes to see that the raccoon was making its way toward her. She extended her hand out toward it. "Grace, don't touch that thing! It's got rabies!"

Grace swiped some of the foam surrounding its mouth on her finger and sniffed it. "I dunno what rabbis smells like, but I don't think it'd smell like whipped cream, would it?"

Trent, looking shocked, crawled toward it. He whipped some of the foam off himself and licked it off his finger. "Hey… This _is_ whipped cream. Why would a raccoon-"

He looked over to find the creature had gone to their backpack and was digging around inside it. When it came back out, it brought a can of whipped cream with it and squirted some more into its little mouth.

* * *

"Okay, what would possess Chris to throw a can of whipped cream in there?" Trent asked the camera. "How is that essential to survival at _all_?"

* * *

*T*S*R*

The wolf continued to circle around Marilee, Geoff and Herbie, looking ravenous. Herbie was clinging to Geoff's legs and Marilee and Geoff were tightly hugging each other in fear.

"G-G-Geoff?" Marilee stuttered. "I-I just want you to know, if we don't make it, I'm sorry about all the mean stuff I've said to you and all the awful stuff I've made you do and all those times I made you try on the dresses I made to see if they made people look fat and-"

Geoff interrupted her by crying, "And I'm sorry I spent your lemonade stand money on bubblegum when you were five and accidentally dumped that bowl full of eggnog on you last Christmas and tried to sell you at a garage sale when you were a baby and-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Marilee yelled, completely forgetting about the wolf for that moment. "You tried to _sell_ me?"

"I-I was four!" Geoff yelled in his own defense. "And Mom caught me before that old lady took you!"

"But still, how could you try to _sell_ your own sister?"

"Well, you weren't very fun when you were one!" Geoff whined. "All you did was cry and poop!"

"That's all you do _now_, but you don't see me selling _you_!"

Geoff pouted, looking hurt. "You're mean when you're about to get eaten by a wolf…"

Herbie eyed the wolf in fear and whimpered, "I-It probably ate m-my brother!"

"Then why the Helsinki is it coming back for seconds?" Marilee screamed. Geoff and Herbie looked at her, shocked. Her lips tightened into a frown. "Oh, yeah, like I'm the _only_ one who's thinking it."

"We're all gonna die!" Herbie cried.

Geoff was getting ready to give up all hope of survival, but he remembered something from a while before. "Marilee, it's time to let your secret out!" he exclaimed.

"W-What are you talking about?"

"Use your Spidey powers to save us!" he told her, smiling with faint hope.

"… _What_ are you talking about?"

"I know you're Spiderman!" he said, patting her on the shoulder and grinning proudly. "I figured it out after you used your Spidey Senses to walk with your eyes shut. So go ahead and save us! Shoot a web out of your wrist and take us to safety!"

Marilee stared at him, astonished by his stupidity. "Geoff, I'm not Spiderman!"

Geoff's face dropped. "This day just keeps getting worse and worse!"

Suddenly, Xavier popped out of a nearby bush, riding on the back of a gray wolf identical to the one circling the small group.

"Stanley, no!" Xavier yelled, smacking the first wolf with his stick. "Bad killer wolf!"

Stanley whimpered like a small puppy and walked toward Xavier and the other wolf.

"Uh… Little dude?" Geoff asked, now in Marilee's arms, after he jumped in them Scooby Doo style. "Wh-What's going on?"

"I found these wolves a few minutes ago and have trained them as my own!" he exclaimed, giving the one he was riding a few pats on the head. "Meet Kyle and Stanley!"

"Kyle and Stanley?" Marilee repeated, struggling under Geoff's weight. "What kind of names are those for wolves?"

"Those are _awesome_ names!" Herbie exclaimed, completely ignoring Marilee's statement and running over to Stanley.

"Stanley is yours," he told his brother. He looked over to Geoff and Marilee again and said, "Well, thanks for letting us hang out with you guys, but we gotta go."

"Go? Go where?" Geoff asked, finally hopping out of Marilee's arms.

"We gotta find Izzy," Herbie said as he climbed on Stanley's back and raised his stick in the air like the Excalibur. "We shall find her and return her to the Banana King!"

Xavier raised his sword next to his twin's, making an X. "For the Banana King!"

Marilee rolled her eyes. "Just when I thought you couldn't get any weirder. But if it means you're leaving me alone, bon voyage."

"Oh, that reminds me," Xavier pulled a huge sack from behind his back and tossed it in front of Geoff and Marilee's feet. "That's a thanks for helping us get this far. I found it behind a tree stump and thought you'd like it."

Curiosity consuming her, Marilee bent down and opened the sack, hoping it wasn't full of mushrooms or something. She gasped upon seeing what was inside. It sure wasn't mushrooms.

She pulled a huge clump of cold hard cash out of the bag and stared at it, like she didn't really believe it was there. "H-How much is in here?"

Xavier shrugged. "I can't count past twelve, but my guess is about sixty grand, give or take."

Marilee dropped the money back in the bag, shaking in pure amazement. She ran over to the twins and gave them a huge hug. "I take back every bad thing I've ever said or thought about you two!"

Herbie gasped. "You said bad things about us?"

She realized her flub and stood back up, a big cheesy grin on her face. "Heh heh. No." She waved a hand, shooing them away. "Now go find Izzy and return her to the Kumquat Queen or whatever."

The twins dug their heels into the wolves' sides, making them race off into the sunset, while Marilee and Geoff watched them.

Marilee got on her knees and dug through the sack, looking ecstatic. "Geoff, can you believe this? Th-This is amazing! …Geoff?"

She looked up. Geoff wasn't standing in front of her. Keith was.

"Keith?" Marilee grinned and got up. "What are you doing here? And where's Geoff?"

"I don't know why your brother isn't here, but I know why I am…" He put his arms around her and dipped her back dramatically, looking deep into her bright blue eyes. "I snuck away from my group so I could be with you. I can't stay away from you, Mar. You drive me insane… In a good way."

Marilee wrapped her arms around his neck. "Oh, Keith… That's so romantic!"

He brought her back up and gently took her hand. "Come on, let's go find a nice place for me to massage you beautiful bare feet while you eat ice cream and talk about how awesome you are!"

She grinned at the thought of that, but looked down at her feet and wiggled her exposed toes. "You're probably wondering what happened to my shoes…"

"I can buy you new shoes later," Keith told her, enveloping both of her hands into his.

Marilee shook her head. "Oh, you shouldn't. They're much too expensive…" She looked down at her loot and grinned. "And I sure can afford new boots now…"

"Or you could use that money for something more… special. Like our wedding."

"What are you talking abo-"

She turned around to find Keith on one knee, a velvet box in his hand. He popped it open, revealing the biggest diamond ring Marilee had ever seen.

He looked up hopefully at her and asked, "Marilee Fiona Guadalupe Anderson, will you marry me?"

Marilee gawked at him, truly shocked. "Keith Carlisle, have you gone insane? We're fourteen! We can't get married!"

"Sure we can!" Keith cheerfully exclaimed, shoving the ring on her finger by force. "We can double with your mom and her new fiancé!"

"WHAT?"

Before she knew it, Marilee was standing outside of a church on a happy, sunny day. She looked down to find out she was wearing a poofy white wedding dress and a rhinestone-covered veil. Panicking, she looked down at her finger to find her engagement ring, along with an even huger wedding ring.

Joyous cheers tossed rice filled the air, and Marilee turned to find Geoff, Duke, and Keith next to her in tuxedoes. They were throwing the rice at the couple walking down the stairs of the church, which she found to be the man from the photo she had seen earlier, and her-

"Mom?" Marilee called out.

Her mom, wearing the same dress and veil as she was, turned to her daughter and smiled. "Hi, honey! Congratulations on the marriage!" She tossed her light blonde hair over her shoulder and linked arms with her husband. "My new hubby and I will both be so happy! And we can have fifty kids and make you baby-sit them all every Saturday night instead of going out with your friends or your new husband!"

Marilee looked between the two newlyweds, almost in a panic. "No… NO!" She dropped her bouquet of white lilies, gripping her head. "This can't be happening!"

Keith jumped out in front of her, but he was no longer dressed in his tuxedo. He was dressed as Robin, the Boy Wonder. "Hopping halibuts, Spiderman! It's the Spider Signal!" He dramatically pointed to a huge spider-shaped light in the sky and looked back at her expectantly.

"What the he-" She looked down again to see that she was now dressed in Spiderman's blue and red jumpsuit, complete with face mask. "WHAT THE [CENSORED]?"

"There's no time to waste!" Keith, or rather Robin, yelled, grabbing her wrist. "To the Spider Mobile!"

"NO!" Marilee, I mean Spiderman, yanked on his cape, making him fall to the ground. "This makes _no_ sense! We're too young to be husband and wife, my mom _just_ met this guy she just…" She shuddered and mumbled, "married… And this junk you're talking about is all _Bat_man stuff, not _Spider_man!"

Keith the Boy Wonder frowned at her and snapped his fingers. A butler showed up in an instant. "Alfred, take her to the Spider Mobile. We've got to stop the Joker _now _and SpiderMar is_ not _cooperating!"

Alfred gave a curt nod, threw Marilee on his shoulder and raced off.

"No!" Marilee yelled, pounding on his back with her fists as hard as she could. "No, no, no!"

"_Mar? You okay?"_

"No… No…"

"_Sis? You awake yet?"_

"Huh… Geoff?" Marilee opened her eyes. She was no longer a blushing bride, or an arachnid-themed superhero. She was back in the forest, being carried around by her brother via piggyback. "What? What's going on?" she groggily asked.

Geoff turned his head to check on her and grinned. "Oh, cool, you finally woke up." He let her down and she struggled to stay standing. A sudden pain struck her head and she rubbed her temples in pain. "You must have hit your head pretty hard. You were out for a while."

"Out?" Marilee stared at him in disbelief. "You mean… I've been unconscious? For how long?"

"Since you ran into that tree," he told her. "I'm just glad you woke up. I would have felt bad if I had killed you or something," he admitted with a chuckle.

Marilee still stared at him in disbelief. "So… Herbie and Xavier didn't ride into the sunset on wolves to find Izzy and return her to the Banana King?"

"Uh… No."

"And they didn't give us a sack full of money?"

"… Nope."

"Keith didn't propose to me?"

"He better not have!"

"Mom isn't marrying that slime ball she just met?"

"What? Of course not!" He paused momentarily to think it over. "Well… At least not yet, I guess."

"Not _yet_?" Marilee snapped. "She shouldn't marry him at all!"

Geoff softened. "Mar…"

"No, really, what does she know about this guy?" she asked. "Does he have any kids? Any _grand_kids? A soundproof basement where nobody can hear him molesting orphans?"

Geoff sighed, wrapping a brotherly arm around her shoulder. "Today's been a bad day for both of us…" He looked to see what a mess she was, with her shoeless feet and the large bump on her forehead, and muttered, "Your's was worse than mine, I guess…"

Marilee sighed and looked to the side, noticing that two certain people were missing. "Hey, where'd the munchkins go?" she asked.

Geoff put his arm down so he could properly shrug. "Beats me. They ran off a little bit after you got knocked out."

As if on cue, the redheaded twins ran toward the two, wielding huge water guns. As soon as they were in decent shooting distance, they aimed and dosed Marilee with two huge blasts of water. Tossing their pistols to the side, they looked up at the sopping blonde, noticing that her eyes were open. "Yay!" Xavier exclaimed, high-fiving Herbie. "We woke her up!"

Marilee stood still for a while, angrily staring into space. She let herself drip for a few more seconds before saying, though gritted teeth, "Thank you, boys. That was _exactly_ what I needed…"

Herbie grinned cheekily. "You're welcome!"

Marilee crossed her arms and Geoff could easily tell she was angry. "Juice box?" he asked.

She rung some water out of her hair and sighed. "Make it a double."

*T*S*R*

Dragging her bear head on the grassy ground, Mia waddled toward the production campgrounds. She figured she had scared enough people for one day. It was at least enough to get Chris off her case.

She heard some rustling leaves, but immediately dismissed it. "Probably a stupid squirrel or something," she muttered, continuing to walk.

Before she had even walked two feet, a green and red blur jumped in front of her. "AH!" She flinched back. "What the… Psycho hose beast? Is that _you_?"

Izzy stood up from her crouching position, an devilish smirk on her lips. "Yep, that's me. And I believe that bear suit is mine."

Mia raised an eyebrow. "You want this smelly thing? You can have it. I'm sick of wearing it. It's like walking around in a movie theater. There's crap in the feet of it…"

Izzy gasped. "No! Not Izzy's cheese puffs!"

"You're worried about your stupid cheesy carbs?" Mia barked. "What about _my_ shoes? They're probably covered in that cheese dust stuff! They'll be orange forever!"

Izzy's eye twitched. She was pretty sure she couldn't get any angrier than she was now. "You murdered my cheese puffs… You won't get away with that."

Mia shook her paws, mocking fear. "Ooooh, I'm so scared! What are you gonna do? Beat me up? Go ahead! I dare you!"

*T*S*R*

A few minutes later, Mia, free of her bear suit, was in the medical tent. She was hooked up to a few fancy monitors and was on life support, with a few noticeable bruises on her body.

"Wow," Chris muttered, standing to the side of her cot. "I didn't think even _you _would do something _this…_ awesome!"

Izzy was standing next to him, only looking completely satisfied with herself. She was dressed in her bear suit, sans the head, and was munching on what was left of her cheese puffs. She shrugged and, with her mouth full, said, "She was asking for it. Literally, she asked for it." She swallowed and added, "I would have let her off the hook or bonked her with a coconut or something if she hadn't dared me to do it. Everybody knows I can't resist a dare."

Chris shrugged. "Well, looks like I'm short one intern. Oh well." He looked at his watch and headed toward the tent opening. "Guess we'd better get to the finishing point. They should be there soon…" He looked back over at Izzy. "Hey, where are Tweedledum and Tweedledumber?"

Izzy blinked, not realizing who he meant. "Oh, you mean Herbie and Xavier? Oh, I left them all alone to fend for themselves in the dangerous woods," she casually told him.

Chris looked unfazed by this, but was still curious enough to ask, "Don't you think your team will be peeved about that?"

Izzy waddled over to the exit and said, "Naaaah, I left them nearby some other teammates of ours. I think it was Marilee. It sure sounded like her scream."

"… And you don't think she'll be peeved about that?"

Izzy waved a claw nonchalantly. "Oh, she's an understanding person. I'm sure she had an absolutely delightful time with them!"

Chris stared at her for a second, then burst out laughing.

Izzy giggled along with him. "Ha ha, I know! I almost had myself going there for a second!" After she calmed down, she added, "But that cuckoo cake needs to learn how to relax! I'm sure my little bros will loosen her up!"

* * *

"Herbie and Xavier are soooo much fun!" Izzy exclaimed, still wearing her bear suit. "One time, we went to the carnival and we played that game where you knock the milk bottles down and we couldn't do it with that dinky little ball, so Xavier threw Herbie at them and the little guy knocked all of those sinister bottles down!" Izzy giggled and said, "The guy running the booth was so scared, he let us take as many prizes from the top shelf as we wanted!" She laughed for a while, finally sighing, "Yeah… I bet Marilee's all loosey goosey now!"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Still screaming as hard as ever, Selena, Duncan and Zoey, still tucked under Duncan's arm, dashed as fast as they could away from the bear. It didn't even bother to follow them, but they were too scared to notice or care. Besides, the bear that they didn't even know was Mia could have very well followed them.

They were suddenly in an extremely open field. Too open to be considered woods anymore.

Duncan screeched to a halt, dropping Zoey as he did. "Wait… Is this it?"

Selena wasn't looking where she was going and crashed into his back, falling down next to Zoey. "I think so… Looks like it."

Unexpectedly, Chris popped out from behind a tree and blew a party horn. "Congratulations, Caliver family! You are the first ones to make it to the finishing point! You've won for your whole team!"

"Seriously?" Selena asked, excited. "Yay!" She picked up Zoey, who was still shaken up by the almost bear attack and being dropped, and gave her a big hug.

Marilee, Geoff and the twins ran in a few seconds later, their spirits dropping when they saw members of the opposite team there before them. "What? Noooo!" Marilee whined, stomping her bare foot. "I can't believe this!"

"Woo hoo!" Izzy jumped out from behind a tree, waddling over to her teammates and brothers. "You guys made it out alive!"

"IZZY!" Herbie and Xavier simultaneously exclaimed, jumping on her to give her a bear hug. Literally. "You found your bear costume!"

"What?" Marilee stormed over to the red head and asked, "You dumped those guys on us so you could go on some little adventure to find your stupid bear suit?"

"Yeah!" Izzy said, letting the boys down. "So did you have fun?"

Marilee just stared at her before shaking her head and walking back to her original spot to mope. She didn't even have enough energy left to properly chew her out.

* * *

Courtney gripped her head, eyes shut tight in irritation. "An _entire _afternoon of listening to Candace gossip with some girls named Phoebe and Monica," she grumbled. "I'm surprised I kept my cool all afternoon…" She sheepishly grinned and added, "Well, not _all_ afternoon, I guess… I started screaming about an hour before we got back… The others must have drown me out…" She frowned, remembering something. "The worst part was that Cody and Keith were actually getting…" She buried her face in her hands and shook her head. "I… I can't even say it."

* * *

"Wait, so _Demi_ isn't speaking to _Cora_?" Cody asked Candace, shocked. The cheerleader nodded and Keith gasped.

"But _she's_ the one who stole Cora's boyfriend!" the skater exclaimed, flabbergasted.

"I know, right?" Candace sighed, bringing the cell phone back up to her ear. "Wait… OMG!" She put her hand over the phone and told the boys. "Monica _just_ heard that Lilly and Oliver are together!"

"… Wait, who's Lilly and Oliver?" Keith asked. "Is Lilly the one who got the tongue piercing?"

"And Oliver's the one who's on drugs, right?" Cody asked.

"No, you're thinking of Rachel and Jerry," Candace told him. "I was talking about Lilly and Oliver from Hannah Montana. Monica _just_ found out they're going out now." She rolled her eyes and giggled. "I mean, who _doesn't_ know that by now?"

"Oh, thank you!" Courtney heaved as they finally made their way into the field. She had had enough of the Killer Cs for one day.

Candace looked over at Courtney's stressed face, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry, Courtney. I guess we all got a little excited and sort of ignored you. You know, you were welcome to join in on the conversation."

Courtney rolled her eyes, walking away. "And gossip about people I don't even know? No thanks." She looked to see that Duncan and his sisters looked awfully happy. "Yes, the Killer Bears won!"

Cody and Candace let out cries of joy, but Keith looked sad. "Aw, man… If only we had made it here a little bit earlier…"

Courtney looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. "Even if we did, you still would have lost. It's three to one."

He looked at the others and realized they were all on the other team. "Huh. Chris did a pretty crappy job picking out teams for this thing, huh?"

The three nodded. That was something they could all agree on.

*T*S*R*

After the remaining campers had returned and waited for Jovie's laxatives to wear off, the Rabid Wolves headed to the campgrounds to find out who would be voted off to never return.

It was nightfall and the bonfire ceremony was almost over. All of the teammates had received their marshmallows except for two.

"Izzy, Marilee. This is the final marshmallow of the night." Chris held up the marshmallow, both girls eyes right on it. "One of you will leave and you won't be coming back."

* * *

"If Izzy hadn't abandoned Herbie and Xavier, they never would have found Geoff and me," Marilee told the camera, arms crossed in a huff. "And if they never found us, then they wouldn't have held us back for so long at first and we could have won. I was thinking about voting one of those half-pints out…" She sighed and shook her head. "But as annoying as they are and as much as I hate to admit it… They're sweet kids. It wasn't their fault. It was irresponsible of Izzy to leave them in the first place. It's for the best…"

* * *

"Marilee's a bit too frazzled to be on this island," Izzy stated, batting at a strand of her curly hair, almost in a trance by it. "That's why I voted her off. It's nothing personal, I just think she needs to chillax at the good old Playa De Losers! If any place could make that stress ball happy, it's _that_ place! I'm doing her a favor!"

* * *

Herbie and Xavier, in the Confession Can together, gave each other a nod and Xavier said, "Since we like everybody on our team, we just voted off Chris."

"Maybe it'll work!" Herbie exclaimed with enthusiasm.

* * *

"Marilee, I looked over the footage, and I gotta say… You are a bad luck magnet!" Chris chucked and added, "I can't even list all the terrible stuff that happened to you today!"

Marilee didn't look angry like she usually would have. Instead, she just looked tired. "Chris, please. Just get on with it. I've had pretty much all I can take today. Let us know who's leaving so I can go to bed as soon as possible."

* * *

"And between you and me," Marilee whispered, hand on the side of her mouth, "All those juices were starting to catch up to me and I needed to hit the washrooms _pronto_."

* * *

Chris stared at, not expecting such a reaction from her. "Oh." He glanced at the other campers, then back at the two girls. "Uh, okay. The final marshmallow goes to…

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"Marilee."

He tossed it to her and it hit her square in the forehead, landing in her lap. She eyed it, then looked up at him. "Seriously?"

* * *

"Marilee told me what Izzy did," Keith told the camera. "And she didn't even tell me so I could help her get revenge on her by voting her off or anything. She was too drained to even try. Marilee's my girlfriend and stuff now, so I gotta vote you off, Izzy. Nothing personal."

* * *

"Sorry, Iz," LeShawna apologized, one foot rested on the toilet paper roll holder of Confession Can. "It ain't right to leave your own brothers in the woods to fend for themselves."

* * *

"Izzy's nice enough and all," Jovie began, rubbing her aching stomach, "but you gotta admit, girlfriend's too crazy to be much help to the team. And she's a danger to the wildlife around here, with her crazy antics. Sorry, girl."

* * *

Chris pointed to the Dock of Shame and said, "Time to go, Izzy." His eyes narrowed and he added, "No funny business. No being chased off by the RCMP, no disappearing in a puff of smoke and no… Just get on the stupid boat!"

Izzy turned to her peers and took a dramatic bow. "Farwell, Wolfies! This is the last time you'll see Izzy for a long, long, _long_ time!"

"You'll probably just be brought back in a few weeks," DJ pointed out.

Izzy shrugged. "Meh, long time, a week or so. Doesn't make that much difference when you're me."

She raced toward the Boat of Losers, where Chef was waiting behind the wheel for her. The redhead lifted the chef high above her head, as much as he struggled and yelled, and tossed him back onto the dock. "Get away from that wheel, crazy girl!" he barked.

She cackled like a mad man and turned to look at her teammates one last time. "_Adios, muchachos_!" The boat zipped away from the dock, right as Chef was about to jump back on, resulting in him landing in the lake.

The kids and Chris stared at Izzy and her getaway boat until it became a mere speck.

"… I can kiss that boat goodbye," Chris mumbled, frowning at the thought of how much a new boat would cost.

The contestants only nodded in shocked silence.

*T*S*R*

Marilee and Geoff were hanging out on the steps of the rarely filmed laundry cabin, thinking about their mother and her new beau. Marilee was thinking of going to bed, like she had told Chris she was going to… But every time she thought of that man, she couldn't even think about sleep, let alone do it.

"Maybe we should just call her," Marilee sighed, lowering her head and propping it up with her arm. "If she's going to be dating this guy, we should at least know more about him."

"I guess you're right," Geoff agreed with a nod. "Heck, we don't even know the dude's name."

Marilee was about to ask Geoff to lend her his cell phone, but they saw someone approaching, so they stopped talking.

"Oh, it's just What's-His-Face," Marilee silently sighed in relief.

"Trent," Geoff reminded her, then stood up to give his buddy a fist bump. "Hey, man." He noticed the small laundry basket tucked under his free arm and asked, "What's up with the clothes, dude? Who does laundry when it's, like, midnight?"

Trent shrugged, then said, "Grace and I got our clothes kind of dirty during the challenge. I figured I should wash our clothes now before the dirt and raccoon drool stains set in."

Geoff and Marilee both blinked, kind of freaked out by that last part.

Trent shook his head and muttered, "You don't wanna know." He headed inside the cabin and Geoff followed him.

"At least you're capable of doing laundry," Marilee told him, getting up and going inside with the guys. She jerked a thumb toward Geoff and added, "I've been washing this bozo's shorts for the past two weeks."

Trent chuckled and said, "When you live with a workaholic dad and a three year old, you have to learn how to do this kind of stuff if you want clean clothes..." He headed over to a washer and started tossing clothes into the open door, while the other two leaned against the unused dryers. Just as he got to Grace's orange short-sleeved sweater, he noticed something sticking out of the pocket. "Huh…" After pulling the item out and looking at it, his brows scrunched in confusion.

"What's that?" Marilee asked, walking over to him.

Trent dropped his sister's sweater into the washer and started, "It's-"

The blonde snatched it from him before he could finish. After looking at it for a second, she rolled her eyes and muttered, "Oh, _this_ thing. I must have dropped it."

Trent blinked in confusion. "What? Why'd you have it?"

"Our mom sent it to us," she explained, referring to herself and Geoff. "It's a picture of her stupid new boyfriend. I don't know why Grace would want it, though…"

Looking like he was in a state of shock, Trent whispered, "I think I do…"

"We think he's loaded, though," Geoff added, walking over to the two. "He looks like he would be."

"Isn't he a total slime ball?" Marilee asked with a laugh, handing the picture back to Trent to look at. "Honestly, I don't know what my mother sees in that guy…"

Trent looked back down at the picture, double-checking to make sure it was the right guy, then looked back up at the blondes. He held the picture up and pointed at the man in it. "This _loaded slime ball_… He's…."

Marilee raised an eyebrow. "He's… What?"

"He's… He's my _dad_."

Silence. Nobody had any idea what to say.

The siblings' eyes widened, their mouths scrunched into freaked out frowns. Geoff looked more shocked than anything, but Marilee almost looked… angry.

Her hand suddenly launched itself into Geoff's shorts pocket, digging around for something. Ignoring Geoff's whiny "Heeeey!" she took his cell phone and started dialing. There was a click and a faint, feminine hello.

"MOOOOM!" she screamed into the device, storming out of the building and slamming the door behind her.

Geoff and Trent stared at the door, like they were half-expecting her to come back. They heard her yell a faint "_What have you done_?" and looked at each other.

The party boy sheepishly grinned at the musician and said, "Maybe she's calling her to tell her how excited she is that he's your old man…"

* * *

Geoff sighed and shook his head. "At least she's back to her old self…"

* * *

Geoff, Duke and Marilee's mom and Trent and Grace's dad? Together? Whoa, didn't see _that_ one coming :O

Well… I did. Cuz I wrote it.

But there will be more of that. If you don't like the idea of that… Tough tomatoes.

**Votes:**

DJ: Izzy

Geoff: Izzy

Herbie: Chris

Izzy: Marilee

Jovie: Izzy

Keith: Izzy

LeShawna: Izzy

Marilee: Izzy

Xavier: Chris

Izzy: 6

Chris: 2

Marilee: 1


	32. Day 13: Parent Crap

I need to skip Playa de Losers, for now. I'm sorry, but there are only three new losers, so there's not much to write about :C

But I CAN give you some more mama drama from Marilee… This one's short… The next one will be, too. I'm going to make the little weekend ones shorter cuz I sorta have to :P

But please enjoy this one! I hope it's funneh :3

* * *

Marilee sat in the mess hall, gripping her head and holding Geoff's cell phone up to her ear. She had talked to her mother for a while last night, but she had begged her daughter to call her later so she could get some sleep. She had called around midnight, after all. But that didn't stop Marilee from calling as early as possible without getting yelled at.

"_Sweetheart, please calm down_," she groggily begged through the phone. "_It's not that big of a deal_."

"It is, too!" Marilee laid her cheek on the table in front of her so she could rest her head but still talk to her mom. "It's bad enough you told Geoff and me you've started dating again by a letter, but you failed to mention that he's Trent and Grace's _dad_."

"_Mari, even _I_ didn't know. Vince and I haven't been dating that long and I knew he had two kids, but_-"

"Wait, his name's Vince?"

"… _Yes, didn't I say that in the letter_?"

"No."

"_Oh… Well, his name is Vince_."

_Why does my mom have to be such a flake? _Marilee whined in her mind. Out loud, however, she just said, "I'm sorry, Mom. Yesterday wasn't that great of a day and… All this information at once seriously didn't help."

Her mother sighed sympathetically and said, "I understand, sweetie. I know that me dating again must be a big change for you, and Geoff, too. I called Duke at that Playa de Losers place and told him about it, and all he did was say, 'Cool, whatever,' and hung up on me."

Marilee rolled her eyes. "At least _somebody's_ taking it well… But I guess I feel better about it now."

"You have no idea how relieved I am to hear you say that. I have to go now. I love you, Marilee. Have fun!"

"Love you, too," she muttered, lifting her head back up.

"_And good luck with your new little boyfriend_!"

"Mooooooom!" she whined, embarrassed. But she had hung up before she could hear her daughter's whining. Marilee sighed, shutting the phone and tucking it in her pocket.

Just then, Jovie, Selena and Candace walked in and got their food. They were laughing from some conversation Marilee wished she could have been a part of instead of the one she had just had.

Selena sat to her right and Jovie and Candace sat across from them. Jovie, being the considerate person she was, noticed Marilee's glum expression immediately. "Marilee, you doing okay? You look like somebody ran over your puppy with a monster truck."

Candace perked up at hearing about the puppy. "Ooooh, you have a puppy? Can I pet it?"

Selena supportively patted Marilee's hand and said, "Not anymore, Candace. Jovie just said a monster truck ran over it, remember?"

Candace frowned and tears brimmed in her eyes. "Oh, I'm so sorry, sweetie. That was insensitive for me. So when's the funeral?"

"I don't have a puppy!" Marilee snapped, crossing her arms. "Jovie was just being figurative or whatever."

"Oh…" Candace smiled again and shrugged. "That's good to hear." Grace, who had their wolf pup Fluffernutter hidden under her shirt, and Zoey, who was supporting her friend's newly gained gut, walked in, right as Candace said, "Chris would probably get mad if he saw a dog around the campgrounds. He might even kick the dog's owner off the island."

The little girls froze upon hearing this and Fluffernutter stuck her head out from under Grace's shirt, but Zoey stuck it back in and the two ran out, but not before the older girls saw them.

"Hmm," Selena mumbled. "Grace has really been packing on the pounds… But what's wrong, Marilee?"

She shook her head and sighed for what felt like her millionth sigh that day. "Well, you guys know my mom is divorced, right? Well, she's started dating again."

"That's not that bad," Jovie said.

"Yeah, but you'll never guess who this guy is!"

"Trent's dad?" Candace guessed.

Marilee stared at her, perplexed. "Well… Maybe _you_ can guess."

Jovie rolled her eyes and said, "She didn't guess, girl. You woke everybody up last night, screaming about it to your mom."

"Oh…" She blushed a little and said, "Well, it's just weird, having to compete with two people who could possibly be your new stepsiblings!"

"They've been dating for how long, a week?" Jovie reached over to pat her friend on the shoulder and smiled. "Don't get ahead of yourself, baby girl."

Marilee nodded and started slowly eating the breakfast she hadn't even bothered to touch.

*T*S*R*

Once the girls had finished what Chef called breakfast, Candace had gone off to find a cute, fluffy animal to cuddle for a while, since talking about puppies really made her want to. Jovie had volunteered to go along with her, being an expert on animals, to make sure none of the cute, fluffy creatures attacked the cheerleader from her abrasive snuggling. Selena, as Marilee's best friend on the island, made it her duty to let her vent all her frustrations and worries on her.

Selena lead her out of the mess hall and sat her down on the steps of the Killer Bears cabin. She took a seat next to her and stroked her chin, trying her best to look intelligent. "Tell Doctor Selena why this bothers you so much."

Marilee rolled her eyes and mumbled, "It's just weird. I never liked my dad, so what's going to make me think this new guy would be anything better?"

"He's Trent's dad," Selena pointed out. "He turned out to be a pretty cool guy, so his dad must be a good guy."

"He's also Grace's dad."

Selena paused, momentarily unsure of how to respond to this. "… I think _that_ was caused by television… Just like most problems with kids nowadays."

"Selena, I know next to nothing about this guy," Marilee groaned, resting her head in her hands. "I only know that he's an accountant and his name is Vince."

"Mar, this is your mom's first boyfriend since the divorce, right?" When Marilee nodded, she added, "There's a one in a million chance that anything serious will happen between them. Even if it did, what's the worse that could happen?"

Marilee looked up and the sky and stroked her chin, thinking of a possible scenario…

* * *

**Life with Vince, written, directed and produced by Marilee Fiona Guadalupe Anderson**

"_HA HA HA!" the evil stepfather, decked out in a dictator's uniform and sitting on a throne on a high platform, laughed as he cracked his ten foot long whip at the ground threateningly. "Work, my minions, work!"_

_Geoff, Duke and Marilee, dressed in rags, were sitting at three different desks, piles of papers surrounding them._

_Duke poked at the buttons on his calculator, very confused as to how it worked. "Yo, step-padre, why do we have to do your accounting crap for you?"_

"_SILENCE, FOOL!" Vince cracked his whip at Duke, making him disintegrate instantly._

"_Man, Mom's going to freak!" Geoff cried, looking at the remains of his brother from his desk._

_Marilee rolled her eyes and grumbled, "Please, even _Mom _doesn't like Duke…"_

"_Did I say you could speak?!" Vince barked, jumping off his podium and walked over to her desk. He snatched the papers from her hands and looked them over. "You forgot to carry the five!!" he screamed, throwing them back at her._

_One piece in particular flew by her arm and gave her a two foot long paper cut, making her arm spew blood like a hose._

"_AY!" she yelped, trying to soak up all the blood she could with her rag shirt. "What did you do that for?!"_

"_I can do whatever I want to you…" Vince grabbed her by the chin so she would look directly in her eyes. "Luke, I am your father…"_

_The screen changes to a shot of the earth, and after a second, it explodes in an atomic bomb fashion._

* * *

After Marilee finished her little fantasy, Selena, looking very unimpressed, said, "Marilee, I'm probably one of the dumbest people on this island, and even _I _think that sounds stupid."

Marilee pouted and crossed her arms. "I thought it was a good story. I liked the part where Duke explodes…"

Selena sighed and said, "Look, I'm not the brightest girl around, but even I know that you should give people a chance before you decide not to like them."

Marilee raised an eyebrow at this statement. "What about Courtney?"

Her eyes widened and she snapped, "That's totally different! Courtney's awful and shouldn't be given a chance for anything!"

Marilee raised her eyebrow again, not looking impressed. "Look at the pot calling the kettle black."

"But you haven't even met this guy! Can't you just wait until he makes Duke combust before you label him as a bad guy?"

After a second, Marilee sighed and nodded. "Okay…"

Selena smiled and gave her a small hug. "Good. Now I'm going to go talk to Trent for a while." She went into her cabin, got her guitar and told Marilee, "Maybe you should talk to him later. He usually hangs out by the mess hall on the picnic table if you need to chat with him." She walked off, leaving Marilee with that and a small wave.

Marilee sat and pondered this for a moment, when something came to her. She smirked a devilish smirk and muttered, "Maybe I _will_ have a little chat with Trent…"

*T*S*R*

"Wow, so that lady that you said your dad started dating is Geoff's _mother_?"

Trent nodded and shrugged. "What are the odds, right? I mean, I he told me he was dating some woman he met at work. When I called him this morning and asked him about it, he said that when she mentioned she had a son named Geoff, he thought it was a coincidence."

DJ sat down at the picnic table next to Trent, still baffled. "Man, that's insane. I don't even know how I'd feel if my momma started dating the dad from someone on the show… But if they got married, at least Geoff is cool."

Trent cringed at the thought of his dad getting remarried. "I seriously doubt anything will get that serious between them, Deej. But if they actually did get married, I guess having Geoff as a stepbrother would be cool… Marilee… Not so much."

DJ nodded sympathetically. "I know what you mean. Girl's scary."

"Though, I've never really talked to her much," Trent remembered, thinking it over. "Her scream fest last night was the longest conversation I've ever had with her. It might have just been a bad first impression. I guess we'll have to talk to each other again eventually…"

"Yeah…" DJ looked around the area outside the mess hall and then back at Trent. "So I'm going to be invited to the wedding, right?"

"Leave," Trent firmly said, clearly annoyed.

"I see," DJ sighed. "Too soon to ask…" He got up and waved as he walked back to the cabins.

The musician shook his head and sat on top of the table, picking up his guitar and strumming a few notes. It was a few seconds later when he heard the most awful noise he had ever heard in his entire life.

"**SHE'S GOT HER HEAD UP IN THE CLOOOOOOUDS, SHARADA, SHARADAAAAAA**!"

Trent slapped his hands over his ears, cringing in pain from the horrible, off-key singing.

"**DON'T KNOW WHEN SHE'LL COME DOOOOWN, SHARADA, SHARADAAAAAAAAAA**!"

"Ah! Make it stoooop!" he whined, looking around for the source of the singing.

"**SHE CAN'T GET TO BEEEEEED, SHARADA, SHARADAAAAAAA! SHE'S GOT THE... **song stuck in… her…"

The singing suddenly stopped and Trent finally opened his eyes. He saw Selena approach with her guitar, tucking what appeared to be an MP3 player in her skirt pocket. Once she was within several feet, he uncovered his ears and asked, "Hey, did you hear that awful noise?"

Selena suddenly looked crestfallen, glancing down at her feet. She felt the bump in her pocket and sadly muttered, "I was singing…"

"… Not _that_ noise." Trying his best to come up with something to save his butt, he blurted out, "I meant that really terrible noise that was drowning out your… really great singing!"

Selena perked up again and giggled a little. "Aww, thanks!" She hopped up on the picnic table next to him and placed her guitar on her lap. "I've been working on those chords you taught me."

"That's good…" Trent looked around for a second, then back at the thirteen year old girl. "Hey, we haven't really talked since the whole Zack thing. You're doing okay, right?"

Selena shrugged and said, "Yeah, I'm getting through it."

"That's good to hear," Trent said with a smile. "I know bad I felt when I got voted off because LeShawna told everybody to do it for Gwen. I mean, we had _just_ started going out and BAM! We weren't together again for weeks…"

Her smile faltered slightly. "Oh… I hadn't thought of that."

"And, you know, we missed each other. Like, a lot. I was barely able to make it through those first few weeks without her." He nodded and sighed. "Also, he's your first boyfriend and you're probably his first girlfriend, right? Man, that must make poor Zack feel even _worse_! Not to mention it cuts Zack and Gwen's chances of winning in half and-"

He was promptly interrupted by Selena as she choked out loud sobs and hugged her guitar tight to her chest, like it was Zack. As small tears trickled down her cheeks, she sadly cried out, "ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!" and shakily got up, racing away.

"Wait! Selena!" Trent called out, setting his guitar down and looking at her guiltily as she ran off. When she didn't respond and her wails faded, he sighed and slapped himself on the forehead.

"Nice one, Elvis."

He stood up and turned around to find Marilee sitting down on the opposite side of the table, arms crossed casually.

"Oh… Hey, Marilee…" He nervously sat down, as well. "Do you want something?"

"I was just thinking… We don't talk enough, Trent."

"We just talked last night." He rubbed the back of his head and added, "Well, we talked for a while, but then you started yelling at your mom on Geoff's phone and ran off."

"Yeah…" Marilee sighed and gave him a sweet smile. "I really want to apologize to you for that. I let my emotions get the better of me, but I've calmed down and I'm ready to talk to you rationally."

"Okay," Trent said with a shrug. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well, our parents _are _dating, right?" She twirled a strand of blonde hair and said, "It might not become something, like, serious, but it wouldn't hurt to get to know them better. And since we can't leave the island and meet them in person, it might be good enough if we just learned more about them from each other."

Trent thought it over for a moment. "That's actually not a bad idea. My dad told me a little bit, but finding out a little more wouldn't hurt."

"And this time, I will not yell. Once again, I'm sorry about that."

"It's fine. I guess it was sort of a shock," he said, trying to be understanding, even though he did think she overreacted.

"I'll start…" Marilee stood up and placed an arm on the table to keep herself balanced. "First of all…" She suddenly whipped out a flashlight, turned it on and shined it in Trent's face. "Where was your dad on the day of today?!"

The musician shielded his eyes from the bright light and asked, "What's with the flashlight? We're out in broad daylight!"

This only made her lean closer. "Answer the question, punk!"

"I don't know, probably at work or something! I told you last night that he was a workaholic!"

"Ah… So he has addictions, huh? What's he on, then? Pot? Meth? Ecstasy?"

Trent shoved the flashlight away, but she brought it back instantly. "He's not on any drugs!"

"Ah, so he's just a boozer, then!"

"He barely drinks at all," he told her, shoving the flashlight away once more, and this time, she tossed it aside.

"Okay, Trenton… I can see the flashlight isn't working…" Slamming both hands down on the table, she crawled on it so she could get in his face more. "How many wives has he had?!"

"One," he replied, inching away from her slightly. "My mom."

"How many times has he been arrested?" She crawled closer.

"None." He scooted farther.

"How many women has he been with after your mother and before mine?" Closer.

"None." Farther.

"Is he a child molester?!" She was so close now, their noses were practically touching.

This time, he didn't back away. He got closer, absolutely baffled as to why she would ask that. "He has two kids, for nine's sake!"

"You didn't deny it!" She inched even closer and Trent scooted farther away, until he finally fell on the ground. Marilee peered over the edge at him, then asked, "So… Is he?"

Trent glared at her as he got back up. "What's your problem? Why are you making such a big deal about this? What, do you think my dad isn't good enough for your mom or something?"

"No, I don't think that!" Marilee snapped, sliding onto the bench where Trent had been sitting before. In a softer tone, she added, "I just want to know if he's going to hurt her or not.

Trent cocked an eyebrow at that statement. "Why would you think he'd hurt her?"

She didn't answer him for a second, but instead looked to the side. "Because… My dad did."

He seemed shocked by that, but sat down next to her. "What happened?"

Marilee shook her head, still not looking at him. "I really don't want to go into detail about it. Point is, my brothers and I haven't seen him since the divorce and I don't think he's really planning on a visit anytime soon."

"Oh… I'm sorry. That must be harsh."

She sighed, looking down at her lap. "Nah… This might sound mean, but I'm glad. He wasn't the best father in the world…" Trent nodded, not sure what to say to that. Luckily, she said something before he could. "I'm sorry, okay? I want my mom to be happy… But…"

"I get it, it's weird," Trent told her, nodding understandingly.

"Yeah…" Marilee looked around once more, trying to think of something to say. "I… I'm sorry. I guess it wasn't right to assume your dad was a dirty rotten scoundrel without even meeting him."

Before Trent could respond, Geoff walked up, taking a seat on the other side of the table. "Hey, guys."

"Hi, Geoff," Marilee greeted back, both she and Trent twisting around so they could see him. "What's up?"

"Well… I went to hang out with Candace, but she was trying to catch raccoons and Jovie was chasing her, so…" He shrugged. "She looked too busy to hang out. So, what's going on with you guys?"

"We're just talking… about the thing," Marilee said awkwardly.

Geoff's eyes widened and he turned back to Trent. "Dude, if she threatened you or anything, I'm really sorry and-"

"Oh, shut up!" Marilee whined, crossing her arms. "I have a little more class than that!"

"Dude, we're cool now," Trent told him. "I think I'll like Bonnie and I'm pretty sure you guys wi-"

"Wait, who's Bonnie?" Geoff asked, scratching his head in confusion.

Marilee stared at her brother, not quite sure if he was kidding or not. "Geoff… Bonnie is Mom's first name." She laughed a little and asked, "Did you think her name was _Mom_ or something?"

While Trent and Marilee laughed at the thought, Geoff silently shrunk in his seat. "Yeah…"

The two looked at the party boy for a second, then burst out laughing even harder than before.

Geoff crossed his arms and pouted. "I liked it better when she was yelling at you…"

* * *

Short, short , short, I know. I just wanted to address that whole situation a little bit… But it's FAR from over ;)

Next one will be a fluffy lil piece of fluff between the Zoey and Xavier in honor of Valentine's Day… Even lil kids can find love! ^_^

Should be up by V-Day, so watch out for it!


	33. Day 14: Be Mine

Well, the site finally started working for me... It didn't for a while!

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody! Here's some Zovier and MariKeith to make it extra Valentineish ^3^

There aren't any of the original TDIers in this, except for small snippets of Duncan. Sorry, next chapter will have more of your favs!

* * *

It was Sunday, which meant the campers were relaxing and just hanging out. Herbie and Xavier were sitting on the Dock of Shame and poking a rollie pollie with their sticks, as this was te only thing they could think of doing. Herbie accidentally squished it with the end of his twig.

"Drat," he muttered, tossing the stick over the edge of the dock. "It was fun while it lasted, right?" His brother didn't answer him. "Xavier?" He looked over to see Xavier was staring back at the campground, a goofy little grin on his face.

Herbie looked to see Zoey and Grace had just showed up by the cabins, playing some sort of game.

He knew that Grace scared him slightly, so there was only one explanation. "You like Zoey, don'tcha?"

"Wha?" Xavier snapped out of his trance and looked over at him. "N-No! I just… That game looks fun."

Herbie did not look convinced. "We do have twin telepathy, you know. I know you're lying."

Xavier sighed. "Fine, I like her… She's fun and makes a mean mud pie. And she's pretty and stuff…"

"Oh… What are you going to do?" Herbie asked.

"… Am I supposed to do something?"

Herbie shrugged. "I dunno. I just think that when you like a girl, you're supposed to do something. Like marry her or something..."

"I don't wanna marry her!" Xavier cried. "Besides, people only get married when they're tired of living with their parents, and I like living with Mom and Dad. They make me dinner and stuff."

"Oh." Herbie nodded understandingly. "Maybe you should just… uh… hug her or something."

Xavier shook his head. "Nah, she might make a baby if I do that. I hear that's what happens when you have _intercourse_," he said, air-quoting at intercourse. "I asked what that means, and it's touching and stuff. I'm not ready to take care of a kid."

"Oh, good thinking." The twin thought for a minute, then inspiration struck. "Wait, I have an idea! C'mon!" He grabbed his brother by the wrist and dragged him off, determined to play Cupid, since their poor rollie pollie was no more.

*T*S*R*

"So… I should act mean the next time I see her?" Xavier asked, confused.

"Yeah," Herbie answered, smoothing down his brother's wild red hair the best that he could. "It works with her brother and that Courtney girl, so it probably will for you. I told Zoey to meet us by the big oak tree by the mess hall in a few minutes, so she should be here soon. Practice scary faces…"

Xavier stretched his mouth so that all his teeth were showing. It looked more like he was trying to find something stuck in his teeth. "Grr…."

Herbie grimaced. "That was kinda scary… Just not the kind of scary you gotta be…" He saw Zoey approaching, so he nudged his brother and said, "She's coming! Act like Duncan!"

"Hi, boys!" Zoey cheerfully chirped, skipping up to the two. "Why did you wanna meet me here?"

Herbie nudged Xavier again, and he puffed his chest out, trying to be tough. However, he just looked silly, if anything. Making his voice sound deeper, he said, "Hey, princess."

Zoey giggled. "Aww, that's what Dunky calls Courtney!"

Due to his lack of experience with Duncan, Xavier wasn't sure what to do next. The princess thing was really the only thing he remembered that Duncan did. The other thing was a not so endearing thing: violence.

Without really thinking about it, he quickly pushed Zoey with both of his hands, making her fall flat on her back. Zoey sat up and looked up at him with wide eyes, shocked as to why a sweet boy like him would do such a thing. After a second of letting it soak in, her big green eyes started tearing up and she let out small whimpers. Those evolved into full-blown wails, which made Xavier's tough face disappear. She slowly got up, then ran off, still blubbering.

Herbie slapped him on the back of the head and yelled, "Why'd you hit her?!"

Xavier rubbed the back of his sore head and glared at his brother. "You told me to be like Duncan!"

"Duncan wouldn't push Zoey down!" Herbie yelled back.

The other twin sighed, looking back in the direction that Zoey ran off. "I should say I'm sorry… But I don't see her anymore."

"I can see her," Herbie said, squinting his eyes and looking at poor Zoey. "She's running toward the cabins… Still running… Oh, she ran into her bro…"

"Duncan?" Xavier started to wring his hands nervously. "M-Maybe she won't mention what I did…"

"Uh… He's kneeling down… She's still crying… Looks like he's asking her something… She's hugging him… She's telling him something now…"

Xavier started to sweat and he whipped his forehead off with his sleeve. "Okay, maybe she'll tell him. But maybe he won't be that mad about it…"

"Um… He looks mad now."

"Oh, poop," Xavier muttered under his breath. "Uh, maybe he won't kill me or anything…"

Herbie, still ignoring his brother's comments, continued to describe the scene. "He's standing up… He's walking toward us… Oh, I think he sees us… He's all glarey now."

"H-He won't do anything… He doesn't know which one of us is me."

"He's looking back at Zoey… He's yelling something at her… She's pointing at you."

Xavier was shaking by this point. "Uh oh… I'm doomed…"

"He's looking at you all angry and stuff… He's walking toward us again… He's walking fasterer… Now he's runnin'… He's getting closer… Closerer… Wow, he looks _really_ mad now!"

Xavier quit listening to his brother and ran off, Duncan passing Herbie and running after Xavier and yelling, "Get back here, you little twerp!"

Herbie merely watched as the punk chased Xavier off screen, then yelled, "Now Duncan's chasing after you and yellin' stuff at you! Whoa, he caught you now! Oooooh, he's glaring at you all mad again and he's making scary, huffy breaths! He's yelling more stuff and…"

**Two minutes later…**

Duncan walked away, clapping the dust off his hands, looking rather content with himself and what he had just done.

After he was gone, Herbie walked up to Xavier, who was now dangling from a tree branch by his underwear. He waited for a few seconds before saying, "… He just gave you a flying wedgie and-"

"Thanks, Herbie," Xavier squeaked, not being able to talk normally due to the pain of the wedgie. "I think I can take it from here…"

*T*S*R*

"I dunno what got into him," Zoey sighed, sitting on the steps of the Killer Bears cabin with Grace. "He used to be so sweet, but he acted like a big meanie today…"

"Aw, that's sad," Grace said, trying to be sympathetic. However, it was hard due to her lack of experience in the kindness department. "Maybe you should poison his food tonight."

Zoey looked at her, freaked out by her suggestion. "All he did was push me down, Grace."

Grace shrugged. "Hey, I'm just spitballin' here."

Herbie and Xavier, who Herbie had managed to get Xavier out of the tree, walked up to the girls, Xavier looking rather sheepish.

Grace glared at him. "What do you want?"

"I-I wanna talk to Zoey," he mumbled, looking down at his feet.

Grace stood up and stomped over to him. "She doesn't want to talk to you and your stupid face! Go stick your head in the piranha pool!"

Xavier looked up and grinned, "Oooooh, that'd be cool!" He was about to run off and do so, but his brother grabbed him by the wrist and jerked him back.

"Pleeeease, Grace?" Herbie asked, smiling sweetly.

Grace glared at the two, but looked back at Zoey for her final approval. "Lemme talk to him, Gracie. If he pulls something again, Duncan will kill him and we won't hafta deal with him."

Over by the Rabid Wolves cabin, Keith was sitting on the steps with Marilee, trying to comfort her after hearing about the thing with her mom.

"Uh… I really dunno what to say, babe…" He scooted closer to her and awkwardly put an arm around her. "I'm not sure if you need comforting or a shoulder to cry on or-"

"Shh!" Marilee shushed, shrugging his arm off of her. "I'm trying to watch my stories!" she yelled and pointed to the kids.

"Stories?" Keith asked. "They're a bunch of little kids, not soap stars!"

"Since there's no TV on this stupid island, I have to find something to entertain myself," Marilee said with a shrug. "Might as well join me."

Keith looked back at the small group, then stood up and started walking into the guy's side of the cabin. "I'll get some chips…"

Back with the children, Herbie had managed to drag Grace away from his brother and Zoey so the two could talk privately.

"I-I wanted to say I'm sorry…" Xavier mumbled, kicking a dirt clump awkwardly.

"Why did you push me, anyway?" Zoey asked, standing up and standing next to him. "Don't you wanna be friends anymore?"

"Say yes, say yes!" Marilee called out with a mouth full of chips, off-screen.

"Yeah," Xavier said with a nod. "But I only pushed you down 'cause I…"

"Spit it out, dude!" Keith yelled at him off-screen, his mouth full of chips, too. Like with Marilee's yell, neither kids heard him.

"'Cause I like you… Like… Like like you…" the redhead muttered, blushing ferociously.

"Oh snap, he did not just say that!" Marilee gasped.

Zoey blushed, too. "Awww, really?" She smiled and gave him a hug. "That's sweet! I like you too!" She separated and giggled. "Like, like like…"

"Holy crap, it's a love triangle!" Keith cried out, still off-screen.

"No, that's only if there's three people," Marilee explained, more quietly this time.

"Oh… It's a love line segment, then."

"Really?" Xavier asked, grinning.

"Yeah!" Zoey chirped, giving a small nod. " I'm sorry Duncan got all mad at you… I didn't tell him to hurt you. He did that by himself."

"That's okay," Xavier said. "That's what I get."

"Wait, when did Duncan do that?" Keith asked Marilee, handing the bag of chips to her.

Marilee shrugged, taking a handful of chips. "Heck if I know. Must have been on the last episode."

"Sooo… What do we do now?" Zoey asked.

Xavier shrugged and said, "I dunno. Herbie said I should marry you."

"I don't think you can get married until you're eight," Zoey told him. "Maybe we should just be friends until then."

"Sounds like a plan!" Xavier said with a big grin.

"Oooooh, she left him in the friend zone!" Keith yelled out. "Buuuuuurn!"

"Ooooh, wait!" Xavier dug around in his pocket and pulled out a crumpled, but pretty daisy. "I picked this for you a while ago. It had a bug on it before, but… I got hungry."

Zoey giggled and took it. "Aww, thank you! And Grace thinks you're a big freako!"

Xavier raised an eyebrow. "Wait, what?"

"But what does she know, right?" She leaned over, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then ran off, giggling like crazy. It wasn't long after that that Xavier fainted, love struck.

Back at the Wolves cabin, Keith turned to Marilee and said, "That actually wasn't that bad. The dialogue was somewhat lacking, but the acting was fantastic."

"Yeah, I agree completely…" Marilee said with a nod. "… We need to find better ways to entertain ourselves."

"… I agree completely."

*T*S*R*

Later on in the day, Marilee was sitting on the shore of the lake, barefoot as to avoid getting her shoes wet from the ebbing lake. She brought her knees up to her chest, deep in thought about the events that had occurred over the past two days.

She wasn't mad about her mother's newfound relationship anymore, but more scared than anything. Things probably wouldn't become serious between Bonnie and Vince, but this opened the door to dozens of other potential stepfathers… Whether this was a good or bad thing, Marilee did not know.

However, she wasn't going to bother to tell anybody about it. She had already made enough of a fool of herself. There was no need to make her look like a crybaby, as well.

Suddenly, Marilee saw her boyfriend approaching. _Great, _Marilee thought to herself. _Hope he doesn't want to comfort me about my mom again…_

"Hey, Keith," Marilee said, giving him a small smile as she stood up.

"Hey…" Keith dug around in his pocket, pulling out a crumpled daisy. "I picked this for you a while ago. It had a bug on it before, but… I got hungry."

Marilee stared at the flower, then back at Keith. She crossed her arms and shook her head. "Keith Carlisle, you are such a dork." She waited a few seconds, then grinned and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "But you're my dork."

"So… Geoff isn't going to beat me up, is he?" Keith asked, a joking tone in his voice.

Marilee laughed, gingerly taking the flower. "I think he'd only do that if…"

"If what…?"

"If he saw us doing this…" Marilee tucked the flower behind her ear so she'd have her hands free, and wrapped her arms around Keith's neck. She gave him a big kiss and he eagerly returned it. Just as it was starting to get deep, Marilee separated from Keith, who silently groaned.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Geoff actually could see us out here… So could the others," she told him, grabbing his hand. "Just because Geoff and Bridgette made out shamelessly every second of every day doesn't mean we have to…" Marilee lead him back to the campgrounds and toward the Confession Can.

"Should we check to make sure Zoey and Xavier aren't in there?" Keith mischievously asked with a smirk.

Marilee opened the door and shoved Keith in, letting a small giggle slip from her lips. She got inside with him and crawled on his lap. Right before their lips met once more, Keith wrapped his arms around her and shut the door, so no one could see what they were doing. He sure didn't want Geoff to chase after him and hang him from a tree by his boxers…

--

I had to add the MariKeith at the end… cuz it's AWESOME. xD

New challenge next time 'round, so look out for it!


	34. Day 15, Part 1: Captain Craziness

First of all, this chapter's a little shorter than some of my past ones. It was kind of hard to describe this challenge and it would take too long and be too boring to describe everyone doing it... You'll have to read to see why xC

But enjoy, and review if you don't mind c: The next chapter will be more detailed and better, double swearsies! :D

* * *

Marilee slowly walked out of her cabin, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She had woken up later than usual, so no one was around. "These past few weeks have been terrible," she grumbled to herself. "If one more bad thing happens, I think I might plotz..."

"CAMPERS!" Chris' voice boomed over the loudspeakers. "Report to the campfire grounds immediately to get the low down on today's challenge!"

Marilee was mute for a moment, then sighed and muttered, "Preparing to plotz in five, four-"

* * *

"I gotta admit, at first my teammates got on my nerves," Marilee confessed, crossing her arms and smiling slightly. "But now they've sort of grown on me. LeShawna and Jovie are pretty cool, even though Jovie keeps telling me to recycle my juice boxes and all that tree hugging crap. DJ's sweet, but I have this feeling that he's afraid of me…" She shrugged and continued, "Herbie and Xavier… Well, they're nice, at least. Geoff's my brother, so I _have_ to like him, but heck, I'd like him even if he wasn't. And Keith…" She blushed and said, "I like him a looot…"

* * *

"That Marilee can really get on my nerves, with her bossy attitude and constantly throwing her juice boxes all over the place," Jovie said, looking slightly ticked. She smiled after a second and added, "But girl's sweet when she wants to be. I'm glad we're teammates. We're getting to be pretty good friends, too."

* * *

"It's so awesome that Gwen and I are on the same team again this year," Trent said, grinning. "I was worried that we'd be on separate teams and get all competitive and nasty. Guess I don't have to worry about that anymore."

* * *

"It's too bad that Candace and I are on different teams," Geoff mused. "It's going to be hard to make my move if we're competing against each other…"

* * *

"Heather and I are getting to be pretty good friends," DJ said, smiling. "It's kind of difficult being on different teams… And she's on the same team as Gwen, who still hasn't forgiven her. That must only make it harder for her."

* * *

"Have you noticed that all the people that have been in here today have been talking about their teams?" Courtney asked. "I was standing outside waiting for my turn and that's all that everybody was talking about for some reason… I wonder why that is…" She was silent for a second, then frowned and said, "Great. Now I can't even remember why I wanted to be in here in the first place."

* * *

Once everybody was gathered by the campfire pit, Chris took his place in front of the group. "Campers, you've been here for a while now and you've gotten used to your teammates, right?" The kids nodded in agreement and Chris added, "Too bad, 'cause we're switching things up!"

"What? We're being put on different teams?" Heather asked.

"Right-o!" Chris grinned and added. "And today's competition will decide our new team captains!"

* * *

"Team captain? That sounds like a good title for me." Marilee pondered for a moment, stroking her chin. "Captain Marilee, her hotness." She grinned. "Yeah… I like the sound of that!"

* * *

"Team captain? Team captain!" Courtney exclaimed. "Yes! I can finally use my superb leadership skills to the fullest! Captain Courtney, her excellence… I like the sound of that!"

* * *

"Captain Duncan, his toughness," Duncan mused, smirking. "… I like the sound of that!"

* * *

Captain LeShawna, her foxiness…" LeShawna thought it over, grinned and said, "I like the sound of that!"

* * *

"Captain Geoff, his awesomeness…" Geoff tapped his chin and smiled. "I like the sound of that!"

* * *

"Captain Grace, her evilness…" Grace rubbed her hands together and said, "Oh, I _definitely_ like the sound of that…"

* * *

Captain Gwen, her gothness," Gwen muttered, trying to think of a better name. "… I don't really like the sound of that. Maybe if I win, I can change the name of the title… Vampire Empress Gwen…" She smiled. "Yeah. That's better."

* * *

Chris continued, "All contestants thirteen and over will be able to compete for the title, because who would want a three year old as team captain, am I right?" He chuckled and muttered, "No offence, Grace," when he saw her irritated face. "And if you win and you have a sibling left on the island, the oldest will be captain and the youngest will be co-captain!"

* * *

"Okay, so maybe I can't be captain," Grace said, looking a little disappointed. "Buuuuut, if _Trent _wins… co-captain wouldn't be half bad!"

* * *

"What if you're the only one of your family left on the island?" Keith asked.

"Good question, my man!" Chris said. "If you or the other sole siblings win, you get to choose your co-captain. But, it has to be another lone contestant! Same applies to those who win and only have a sibling younger than thirteen!"

* * *

Grace crossed her arms and pouted. "… Rats."

* * *

"Great," Courtney grumbled, crossing her arms in a huff. "That means my choices would be Candace the chatterbox, Cody the pervert, Keith the other pervert, DJ the wimp, Heather the girl who no longer has a competitive edge and is therefore useless, and Gwen." Courtney rolled her eyes. "Ugh, Gwen. That girl never has a nice thing to say about anyone!"

* * *

"So… What's the challenge, dude?" Geoff asked.

Chris did not answer him. He merely smirked an evil smirk.

*T*S*R*

"**ARE. YOU. SERIOUS**?"

"Why, yes. Yes I am."

"**MINIATURE GOLF**?"

"Very good, Courtney," Chris said with a couple of claps, like it was a great feat for her to comprehend that.

Somehow, a miniature golf course had popped up on the island and all of the campers were gathered by the first hole. Those competing had their putters with them and Chris tossed them each a colored golf ball.

"M-M-Miniature golf?" Marilee stuttered, not sounding annoyed as per usual, but worried. When Chris tossed her a purple ball, she squealed and shielded her face with her arms, even though it landed by her feet without any possibility of physical contact whatsoever.

"This is how we're going to decide who's team captain?" Courtney screamed, angrily catching her gray golf ball. "How does mini golf relate to leadership skills at _all_?"

"Do you want a leader who's too incompetent to even play a decent game of mini golf?" Chris asked. Courtney honestly didn't know how to answer that, so she remained silent. "Yeah. That's what I thought." He cleared his throat and added, "After every hole, several campers- I mean, golfers- will be eliminated, based on how much they suck. And, judging from your athletic skills, I'm guessing that will be a lot of you."

"Well, you can kiss your chances of winning it for us goodbye," Duncan told Selena, bouncing his black ball off his putter and catching it in his free hand.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, glaring at him while catching her bright pink ball.

"Hey, I'm just being honest, kid," Duncan said to her, shrugging. "You suck at mini golf."

Selena crossed her arms and stomped her foot. "I do not! Don't you remember that time we went to Putt-Putt Palace when I was six?"

The punk spun his ball on the tip of his finger like a tiny basketball and answered, "Yeah, how could I _not_? You managed to destroy every other hole we played, injured two employees and got us banned for life."

"… Oh. I thought _you_ did that." She thought for a moment and shrugged. "Meh, I'm sure I've improved."

Duncan smirked. "And I'm sure this will be interesting..."

* * *

Duncan leaned back and crossed his arms behind his head. "Okay, mini golf is probably the lamest challenge Chris could have come up with, but it'll be an easy win… For me, at least. Selena will probably kill someone before the third hole."

* * *

"I can't believe we have to do this," Jovie grumbled, bending over to pick up the ball she failed to catch.

Candace, who was standing next to her, asked, "Why? Don't you like miniature golf?"

"It's not that." She stood back up and added, "It's just that I've only ever played once or twice."

"Really? Why?"

LeShawna, who was nearby, walked over and asked, "Girl, do you seriously think there are any mini golf courses around the projects?"

"Oh. I guess not… But this will be so much fun!" Candace chirped, gripping her putter so she could practice her putt. "Owen and I play it at the course by the pizza place near our house all the time." She putted her red ball precisely between Jovie's feet. "Well, Owen mostly just goes to the pizza place. I play while waiting for him to finish his extra large pepperoni, sausage and pineapple pizza… But still, It's really fun!"

LeShawna eyed her for a moment. "… Do you ever have a bad thing to say about _anything_?"

Candace shrugged. "Not really, no. Why would I? This is the greatest island ever! Every day here is like a new fantastical adventure!"

* * *

LeShawna and Jovie were sitting together in the Confession Can, looking at each other as if something was amiss. "Is it just me, or is Candace always waaaay too happy?" LeShawna asked her sister.

Jovie shrugged. "It's not like there's anything wrong with being a little too… perky. It can just get really freaky, is all."

"Girl, you're telling me! Still, you can't help but like her, even though she can really get on a sista's nerves sometimes."

"Yeah… Why are we in here together again?"

LeShawna shrugged. "Because doing this separately would have taken too much time."

"Oh…"

* * *

"Okay! Those who aren't competing, take a seat on the Bleachers of Failure!" As Zoey, Herbie, Xavier and Grace sat down on the bleachers that were randomly on the sidelines of the course, Chris added, "This is also where the losers will be sent after every hole. But enough chit chat! Let's see what you're made of!"

*T*S*R*

"Yeah, I'm first!" Selena yelled, running up to the starting point of the first hole.

"Try not to kill anyone," Duncan yelled out, making her spin around and stick her tongue out at him. Once she was done, she took a look at what she had to work with.

The first hole was pretty basic, with no hills and turns. It would only take a straight putt to make it in, making it the most basic of basic mini golf holes ever invented. It at least had a running windmill by the hole to make it look less plain.

"Now, this is a pretty simple hole," Chris explained, taking a place next to Selena. "It's what I like to call 'The Bunny Hole' and even the simplest of morons could get through it…" He pulled out a large rock with a smiley face drawn on it from behind his back and placed it by his feet. "Watch this." He pulled a golf ball out if his pocket and dropped it on the rock. It bounced off the rock, rolled down the course and landed straight in the hole. He looked back at her and laughed. "But it might be a little harder for you…"

* * *

Selena was still seething over his comment and asked, "Okay, why does everyone think I'm such an idiot? I mean, I know I'm no Noah, but it's not like I'm the stupidest person on the island! Why does everyone treat me like a mindless buffoon?"

* * *

**Flashback: Yesterday**

_Heather wrapped a towel around herself and stepped out of the shower. As she was about to leave, she couldn't help but notice that Selena was there and was getting ready to do something rather peculiar, not to mention downright stupid. _

_The blonde had her towel wrapped around her, but it looked like she hadn't taken her shower yet. She had just plugged her hair drier in, along with several extension cords so it would reach, and was making her way to the nearest shower._

"_Selena?" Heather called out, making her turn around. "What on earth are you doing?"_

"_Taking a shower," Selena answered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "What else would I be doing?"_

"_But shouldn't you put the drier down first?"_

"_No. I'm taking it with me to save time," Selena told her, continuing to walk to the stall._

"_But you'll electrocute yourself!" Heather cried, clearly worried. _

_Selena giggled and waved a hand. "That's only with toasters! Does this look like a toaster to you?"_

_Heather stared at her for a minute, then shook her head and sighed. "Just give me that thing before you kill yourself."_

**End Flashback**

**

* * *

**

Selena pouted. "I really hate those flashbacks…"

* * *

Selena put her ball down and took a few small practice putts. Once she was really, her actual putt was not quite so small. In fact, she swung with such great force, she not only missed her ball, but her putter went flying out of her hands.

"… Oops."

The putter hit one of the sails on the windmill in just the right place, making it come back like a boomerang right toward her. The club smacked her in the face and knocked her to the ground.

Everybody cringed, even Chris. "Ooooh… I never thought anyone ever got hurt while playing miniature golf…" After hearing him say that, Marilee's expression only looked more worried.

Selena meagerly stood up, a hand covering the eye that the putter hit. "Ow. I guess I'm just special like that."

Chris nodded and shrugged. "Oh well. You can take a seat on the Bleachers of Failure."

"Can I at least get some ice for my eye?" She asked, finally uncovering her eye. It was extremely swollen and an interesting shade of purple.

The host sucked a little air in through his teeth, as if seeing it made him hurt too, and said, "Sure. Just… Please don't sue, okay?"

Selena gave a thumbs up. "No worries." She walked past him, only to trip over the smiley face rock due to her impaired vision.

"Uh… Somebody help the Cyclops to the infirmary."

"I'll do it!" Marilee said a little too quickly, yanking Selena up and dragging her off to get her eye fixed.

Chris looked as they walked off and said, "Well… It can't get lamer than that. Geoff, you're up next."

Geoff took his place at the starting point, positioned himself and the putter, and hit the ball perfectly. "Yeah!" he cheered. Unfortunately, he hit the ball a little too hard. It went flying in the air, bounced off one of the sails on the windmill, and smacked him in the forehead.

As the party boy gripped his head and whined in pain, Chris face palmed . "This is just pathetic. Can I please get someone with a _brain_ to putt?"

"Oh, oooooh!" Candace waved her hand in the air and bounced up and down wildly. "Chris, pick me! Chris, Chris, Chriiiiiis! Chriiiiis, piiiiiiick meeeeeeee! Chris, Chris, Chris! Chriiiiiiiiiii-"

"Will you just pick her so she'll shut up?" Gwen asked, clearly irritated by the cheerleader's persistence.

"Fine," Chris sighed, shaking his head. "You don't really have any more brains than those two, but be my guest…"

"Yippie!" Candace skipped up to him, placed her ball by the starting point, and simply putted it. It smoothly rolled over the fake grass and sunk into the hole perfectly.

"Huh." Chris looked back at her and smiled. "You may not have more brains than those two, but you at least have better motor skills."

Geoff, who had been in too much pain to move too far away, looked at him and asked, "What does driving have to do with mini golf?"

Chris and Candace stared at him, both wondering if he could get any stupider… And they both decided that would be a no. They looked back at each other and Chris said, "Okay, I suppose you do have more brains than him."

*T*S*R*

Almost everybody had already taken their turn and gotten the ball in in under three hits, so it was still only Selena and Geoff who had been eliminated.

"Okay, looks like we've almost got through the first hole. We just need LeShawna, Jovie and Marilee to go." He looked up from his clipboard and saw LeShawna and Jovie, but no Marilee. "Hey, where'd she go?"

"Maybe she's still with Selena at the infirmary," Jovie suggested. "I guess we'll have to go while we wait for them."

As LeShawna stepped up to putt, Selena had just arrived back and sat down on the Bleachers of Failure next to Geoff. He looked and saw a lack of his sister and asked, "Where's Mar?"

Selena shrugged, removing the ice pack from her eye for a moment. "She said she needed to stay behind. She wouldn't tell me why, though."

Geoff sighed, gripping his aching head. "Dang it. I was afraid of this..."

"Afraid of what?" Selena asked, placing the ice pack back on her black eye.

"Nev… Never mind." He didn't feel like explaining it to her. And it was certainly a long story. "I'll go get her."

He stood up and started walking toward the campground, calling out her name when he was far away enough from the golf course.

When he finally arrived, he stuck his head through the open window of her side of the cabin. "Marilee? Mar? Hellooooooo?" He pulled his head out and tapped his chin in thought. Once something came to him, he smirked, walked into the cabin and loudly said, "Oh, darn! Guess she isn't here, Keith. You'll just have to make out with somebody else, maybe Selena or Jovie or-"

"I'm not four, Geoff!" a voice sounding exactly like Marilee's called out, coming from under one of the bunks Geoff couldn't see under before. "Like I'm really going to fall for that!" Geoff grinned a triumphant grin, while Marilee thought over what she had just done. "D'aw, crap biscuits…"

He walked up to the bunk and bent down, seeing her curled up in the fetal position, a blanket wrapped around her so only her face was visible. "That's funny. You sort of look like you're four," he joked.

"You _cannot _make me go out there!" Marilee told him, gathering her blanket even tighter around herself. "I can never play miniature golf ever again!"

Geoff sighed and said, "C'mon, you've got to face this stupid fear sooner or later."

"It's not a fear! It's a deep, fiery hatred!"

"Marilee, what happened when you were ten was a one in a million thing. Even _I _know that and I flunked my Probability and Statistics class last year!"

"How could I ever play mini golf again ever since… _The Incident_?" she asked, a slight shiver in her voice.

"It's still the same game. You grab a putter thing, hit the ball and-"

"I still know how to play! I just meant I can't bring myself to do it!" She covered her face so she couldn't be seen at all. "I don't want to hurt anybody else…"

"Okay, you may have injured about seven people, but you didn't hurt that one redheaded kid _that_ bad," he said, reaching out to yank the blanket off of her completely.

She looked up at him, not convinced. "It took _three_ doctors to get my ball out of his-"

"I know, I know," Geoff interrupted her. "But I promise you that that won't happen again." When she didn't even bat an eyelash at that comment, he whined, "C'mon, I wanna be team captain!" and gave her a super sad face.

"Then just win it for yourself!" She grabbed the blanket back from him and covered herself with it once more.

"I can't… I already screwed up."

Marilee sighed under the blanket. "Why am I not surprised?"

"C'mon, you haaaaaave to do it!" he whined. "You're the best mini golfer I've ever seen!"

Marilee turned her back to him and grumbled, "I'm not a little kid anymore, Geoff. You can't just expect me to do whatever you say just because-"

"I'll give you a juice box for every hole you play!" Geoff blurted out, desperate for her cooperation.

Marilee instantly rolled over, uncovered her face and raised an eyebrow. "What flavor we talking about here?"

Glad to have piqued her interest, he pulled a box out from behind her back and answered, "Mango Tango."

Her eyes lit up and she whispered, "I love Mango Tango…"

"And we'll both love being in charge of our team. Let's do this!"

* * *

"I guess you dudes are wondering why I want to be team captain so bad," Geoff mused, a Mango Tango juice box in his hand. "Well, nobody's ever taken me seriously. They think I'm just some party-obsessed screw-up, and that's so not true! I can be really smartical when I want to be! And I'll bet one of the reasons Bridgette broke up with me is because she's all responsible and I'm all… not." He took a sip from his juice box and smacked his lips. "Huh. These are pretty good. No wonder my sis likes them so much… Anyway, I want to prove to everybody that I can do something without messing it up… And if we win and I'm team captain, I could make my team wear fezzes all the time…" He laughed and added, "That'd be _awesome_!"

* * *

By the time Marilee and Geoff returned to the course, LeShawna and Jovie were done, and had actually done pretty good for two people with little to no experience.

Marilee slowly approached the starting point, gingerly taking a putter from Chris and placing her purple ball on the plastic grass a good five feet away from her.

"Uh… Shouldn't you put the ball… closer to your putter?" Chris asked, crossing his arms.

"Don't pressure me!" Marilee squeaked. She turned back toward the course. Stretching her putter as far as she could without stepping closer, she tapped the ball, flinching back as soon as it started creeping forward.

The ball slowly made its way to the hole, going at about the speed of a slug. After half a minute of waiting, Duncan asked, "Anybody want to go catch a flick? This could take a while…"

Eventually, the ball made it to the hole and slowly dropped inside. "Ugh, finally," Chris groaned. "That was really pathetic, but you at least made a hole in one. Well done, but try to pick up the pace next time, okay?"

However, she had already run over to the Bleachers of Failure. "Gimme!" she said to Geoff, holding out her hand and looking panicked. He handed her a juice box and she starting sucking the juice down, as if it's sweet taste was the only thing keeping her from hysterics.

Geoff crossed his arms behind his head and sighed, "Ah, victory's gonna be sweet! Sweeter than Mango Tango!"

*T*S*R*

During the second hole, Gwen and Heather had been eliminated due to Gwen's teal ball rolling in the miniature lake on the course and Heather's maroon ball bouncing off the little bridge over the lake and hitting Chris in the shin. Hurting the host certainly called for disqualification.

As they took a seat on the Bleachers of Failure, Gwen muttered, "I just hope you're not on my team again this time around…"

Heather sighed a sad sigh and asked, "When are you going to forgive me, Gwen? I've apologized to you a thousand times and you won't even hear me out. What do I have to do to prove to you I've changed?"

"Vote yourself off the island," Gwen spat at her, crossing her arms and turning away.

Heather frowned and propped her elbow on her leg so she could rest her head in her hands. She was starting to think it was going to take more than a verbal apology to get Gwen to forget about how horrible she had been last year…

After everyone else had gone, Marilee, once again, tapped the ball every so lightly to avoid heavily injuring anyone, like she feared, but it somehow managed to make its way into the hole in only one hit. Geoff walked up and handed her a second juice box, still just as satisfied as he was the first time.

Keith, however, had some constructive criticism for her. "You really should hit the ball harder, babe. And you don't have to flinch away like it's gonna eat you. Why are you so afraid of mini golf, anyway? I thought you were afraid of blood."

"Mini golf's the reason I'm afraid of blood!" Marilee told him, clutching her juice box to her chest. "Do you know how many innocent people I made bleed thanks to this stupid, downscaled game?"

"What are you talking about?" Keith asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Marilee sighed, took another long sip of her juice box and opened her mouth to tell him the tragic story.

* * *

"I'm not overreacting about the mini golf thing… I'm not!" Marilee declared, clutching a Mango Tango juice box in her hand. "Y-You see, I used to be a great miniature golfer. One of the best in my province, actually. So anyway, when I was ten, I was entered in this big mini golf tournament. I was in the lead, and I was on the final hole… I-I guess I putted it too hard and it bounced off a big clown statue or something and ricocheted off a ton of people… I hurt so many people that day… One of them even got amnesia for a while…" She looked down at her lap and sighed. "I haven't picked up a putter since." She glumly drank her juice.

* * *

After she was done telling Keith, he didn't look shocked. He looked like he had heard that story before. "That actually sounds familiar… Something just like that happened at a mini golf tournament I went to several years ago…"

Marilee, who had looked rather droopy, perked up a bit at hearing that. "R-Really? What year?"

"Uh… 2005, I think."

"No way," she gasped. "Th-That was the year I was in it! Where was the one you saw?"

"I'm pretty sure it was in Toronto."

"Keith! That's the one _I _was in!"

Keith thought it over, then gasped and pointed at her. "You're the cute girl who won!"

Marilee grinned and giggled. "So even _then_ I was cute? Yay…"

"Wait a second… Did you say _you _did that thing with the ball?" Keith asked her.

"Yeah, and I wish you wouldn't bring it up."

"But, Mar… _You _didn't do that."

Marilee stared at him, then asked, "What the heck are you talking about? Of course I did! I saw my ball with my own eyes!"

"Wait, I remember that… It wasn't your ball!"

Marilee was truly shocked. Either the trauma she had lived with for four years was a sham or her boyfriend was just insane. "Would you care to elaborate, then? Because I'm extremely confused!"

"Okay, okay, let me think for a second…" Keith gripped his head, deep in thought. "Uh… There was that golf ball gun the mascot guy was using at the beginning of the tourney, right?"

"Yeah, I remember that stupid thing." She rolled her eyes. "I'm surprised nobody got sued over that…"

"Yeah, uh… Well, some kid had gotten his hands on it somehow. He shot it and it bounced off this big clown statue thing and-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Marilee yelled, interrupting him. "So… You're trying to tell me that I've been obsessing over this for years, and it wasn't even _my_ _fault_?"

"… Pretty much, yeah."

"What'd the little twerp look like?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"He was about twelve or thirteen, shaggy blonde hair… The weird thing is, he was wearing a leather jacket and it was, like, July-"

"GEOFF!" Marilee screamed, throwing her empty juice box on the ground furiously.

* * *

"The whole freaking thing was Geoff's fault!" Marilee yelled, throwing her hands in the air. "When he was thirteen, he went through this weird leather jacket phase and refused to take it off, no matter how hot it was outside! _He_ shot the ball gun, _he_ hurt all those people, and _he_ ruined my mini golf career!"

* * *

Keith watched her seethe, clearly worried about what she would do next. "H-He didn't mean to do it, babe! He looked guilty after he did it!"

She growled for a second, then took a second to calm down, angrily shook her head and said, "It'll do no good to get angry at him now. I'd just make an even bigger fool out of myself. I'll deal with him later…"

"Keith, you're up, dude!" Chris called out, making the two realize that the others had been playing the next hole the whole time they were talking.

He looked back at his girlfriend, concerned, and asked, "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Marilee nodded, looking back toward the cabins. "You go ahead and play… I have to go get something."

*T*S*R*

Marilee strolled into the cabin, a determined look on her face. Ever since she found out the truth of her dark, miniature golf-related past, everything was different. She didn't have to be afraid of causing anyone any harm. She didn't have to hold back. She could play to her fullest ability. And that was a lot.

Bending down by her bunk, she pulled out a thin, long case from underneath it and set it on her lap. Unlocking each clasp, she slowly opened it, smiling upon seeing what was inside it.

Her trusty putter was nestled in the black velvet lining, a certain shine casting off of it even though it was moderately dark in the cabin.

"Hey, Camille," Marilee said, like she was talking to a small child instead of a small golf club. "Mommy's back. She's back…"

* * *

The Total Drama Rock cameo was for you, Frank xD

I know you all are probably wondering why she brought her old putter with her to the camp if she was terrified of mini golf… Well… Your guess is as good as mine xD


	35. Day 15, Part 2: Dance and Swing

Sorry the first part of this chapter is kind of crummy. I wrote it while I was in a slump. The second half was written while I was in a much better mood ^_^

But please enjoy regardless, and I'm sorry for such a wait. Enjoy!

* * *

Most of the campers were already done with the next hole. However, there were only a few left, including Marilee, who still hadn't come back. She was too busy getting ready… Ready to show off her mad mini golf skills.

Keith was starting to worry about her. Maybe her knowing about her sham of a terrible past was a _bad_ thing… His nervous feelings lessened when he heard random music coming from nowhere. It sounded like the music they placed on TV when something epic was going to happen.

"Where is that epic music coming from?" Keith asked, suddenly hearing the music out of nowhere. "It's like something insanely awesome and weird is going to happen…"

Duncan looked around for the source, and when he finally found it, he seriously didn't know whether to worry or laugh. "Well… It's weird, all right."

The music was somehow coming from Marilee. She was completely decked out in golf garb, including khaki shorts, a blue sleeveless polo, and even going as far as a fingerless golfing glove on her left hand. She was carrying her putter and walking back toward the group, almost in slow motion.

When she finally arrived, she merely crossed her arms and asked, "So is it my turn?"

"She's back," Geoff muttered, grinning ear to ear. "Team captain, here I come!"

"Uh… Yeah," Chris said, sort of confused about her new found enthusiasm. "Right after Courtney goes."

Marilee rubbed her nails on the front of her shirt and laughed as Courtney took her place by the starting point of the next hole. She smiled and smugly said, "You can give up now if you want, Court. Nobody would blame you at all."

"Excuse me?" Courtney asked, clearly offended. "You dress up a bit and you suddenly think you're the female Tiger Woods? Ten minutes ago, you wouldn't get within three feet of a golf ball!"

"Let's just say my perspective has changed." Marilee leaned on her putter and added, "You're looking at a mini golf prodigy here, honey."

"That's not something I'd really broadcast," Courtney muttered, rolling her eyes and finally putting. Her ball rolled through the super-swirly course, but stopped about three inches away from the hole.

"Ooooh," Marilee sighed, mocking sympathy. "A little short, huh? Let Mari take care of that." She pushed Courtney aside, dropped her ball on the grass, and gave it a quick smack. It basically took the same route as Courtney's ball, but it knocked the former CIT's ball into the hole, hers going in shortly afterward.

Courtney, as well as several other golfers, gaped at that spectacle, then turned back to Marilee. "How did you do that?"

Marilee crossed her arms, a smug smirk on her face. "It's all in the flick of the wrist." She strutted by, quickly adding, "An ounce of talent doesn't hurt, either."

* * *

"Untalented? She did NOT just call me untalented!" Courtney fumed. "I'll let you know, I have many talents! I have more capability in my big toe than that little tramp has in her entire body!" She crossed her arms and her eyes narrowed. "I'll show her. I'll win team captain if it's the last thing I do!"

* * *

*T*S*R*

DJ walked up to the start of the outer space themed hole, dropped his orange ball and putted it. It bounced off the UFO and into the hole. He was just about to cheer until he realized something. It was bigger than the previous holes. "Wait… Was that a _black hole_?"

"You know it!" Chris exclaimed from the sidelines with the others. "You'd better appreciate it, too! It took a huge chunk out of our meal budget!"

On the other side of the island, Chef was taking a can of garbage out to the back of the mess hall. After he sat it down, he stared at it for a moment, looking like he was considering something. He looked around to make sure nobody was around, picked the can back up and ran through the back door of the kitchen.

Back at the golf course, Chris jerked his thumb to the Bleachers of Failure. DJ sighed in defeat and took a seat next to Trent, who had also been eliminated that round for losing his ball inside one of the many craters on the course.

Marilee walked up to the starting point and dropped her ball. She used one hand to cover her mouth as she yawned, and used the other to hit her ball. It bounced off most of the moon rocks and straight into the right hole.

"Marilee, I'm actually impressed," Chris told her, checking something on his clipboard. "You've gotten a hole in one on every hole. Even for something as weak as mini golf, that's pretty fdifficult to do. On to the next hole!"

*T*S*R*

After managing to get his ball in after a whopping total of twenty three hits, Cody walked to the sidelines in silent defeat. Marilee met him at the starting point, using Camille the putter to prop herself up. "Cody, my good sir," Marilee began, making Cody look up from his feet to her. "Pick a tree."

Cody looked over at the course again. The theme for that course had apparently been a rainforest theme, which had been one of the reasons for his downfall. There were so many tropical trees, it had been hard for him to see the hole or get his ball past them.

"Uh… The tallest one," he said, pointing to the one at the very end, right by a big clump of trees by the hole.

She winked as she prepared to putt and said, "Watch this." She hit her ball a little harder than usual, making it bounce off the tree and away from the hole.

"Ha!" Courtney scoffed as she ran up to the two, clearly elated. "You finally missed!"

"Waaaaaaait fooooor iiiiit…" The three turned their attention back to the ball, which was still flying. It bounced off one of the many other trees, off of another one, and landed straight in the hole.

Courtney glared, while Marilee smugly smirked. "You think you're sooo great, do you?"

Marilee crossed her arms and strutted off. "Pretty much."

* * *

"That. Is. It!" Courtney exclaimed, clearly ticked. "I am going to take her down if it is the last thing I do! Only a few more holes until the end of the challenge. When I win and she doesn't, it'll surely knock her down a few pegs… Unless she wins second place." Her lips curled into a thoughtful pout as she went over several things in her mind before muttering, "Drat, I hadn't thought of that…"

* * *

Keith was about to make his fiftieth hit so he could finally finish that round, but stopped mid-putt when he saw someone approaching. However, she wasn't approaching him in a particularly normal manner.

Marilee had managed to place Camille between her feet so that she could hold it like she would have in her hands. Using her hands as her new feet, she walked on her hands toward him, looking as smug as ever. Wobbling slightly to keep her balance, she gently swung her legs over her head and putted her ball. After winding past every obstacle, it fell safely into the hole.

"Wow, impressive, Mar," Keith complimented, grinning even though he knew she had beaten him.

Her arms started to feel like jelly, not used to using them for such things. Unable to support her own weight any longer, she let out a small whimper and collapsed flat on her back.

He smirked and shrugged. "Well, it _was_ impressive."

Marilee sat up, rubbing her head as she stood up and picked Camille back up. "What can I say? I can't be epic _all _the time. But I'm sorry you're not going to be team captain."

"What makes you think I won't?" he asked.

Raising an eyebrow, she pointed out, "Keith, it took you twelve putts to move the ball five feet."

"…" Keith nodded. "Yeah… That is indeed a good point." He shrugged. "Oh well. I didn't want to be team captain anyway. Good luck, babe." He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and walked toward the Bleachers of Failure.

*T*S*R*

Since there were only three golfers left, Chris lead them to the Bleachers of Failure to announce something to the losers.

"We're down to the final three golfers!" Chris announced cheerfully. "Marilee, Candace and Courtney! And I've got to admit, any of them would make pretty good leaders…" He looked back at them and added, "Even you, Candace… I guess dumb people have been decent leaders in the past."

* * *

"I think Chris assumes I'm stupid because I'm so happy all the time," Candace mused, still smiling widely despite the insults. "And Owen's… specialness probably doesn't help. Not that that's a b_ad_ thing! Owen's an awesome guy! And I'm gonna win this for him, because that's what he would want!" She placed her hands on her lap and added, "I wish you were still here, bro. We'd be great co-captains! But since you're not, if I _do_ win…" She tapped her chin and grinned. "I have somebody else in mind…"

* * *

Chris motioned to everybody to follow him and said, "If you all will follow me to the final hole, we can get started!"

"Why do we have to get up?" LeShawna asked. "We've been able to see the holes just fine from here."

"This hole takes place inside… It sort of needs to. Now let's go and get this party started!"

"Did he say party?" Zoey chirped. "I wanna go! Who's birthday is it?"

"I don't think he meant an actual party, Zo," Selena told her. "Right, Chris?"

Chris didn't answer, but he merely smirked.

*T*S*R*

Selena, as well as the others, gaped as they looked at their surroundings. "I guess maybe he wasn't lying for once…"

He sure wasn't, because inside the building where the last hole would be, it definitely looked like a party. A disco party to be exact, what with the colorful lights waving this way and that, huge disco ball spinning above their heads, and the floor tiles that lit up anytime anybody stepped on them.

"How much money is in your budget, anyway?" Courtney asked, practically having to yell over the loud, funky music.

"Actually, this was a donation," Chris stated.

"Who the heck would donate all _this_?" Jovie asked.

* * *

Chef, was smiling widely, walking with a certain strut toward a tent he had thought had been perfectly hidden. He popped up the collar on his white polyester disco suit and fluffed his black afro wig. Once he walked inside the tent, he didn't look so funky fresh when he saw that it was completely stripped of its decorations.

Chef growled in frustration and threw his wig on the ground. "Dang it! He found my Disco Hideout!"

* * *

"Anyway, this hole's kind of special," Chris explained, gesturing to the dance floor.

"Oh, really?" Gwen sarcastically asked. "We hadn't noticed!"

"Will you let. Me. Finish?" Chris slowly asked, his patience thinning with the contestants' constant commentary. "For this hole, you will not only have to get the ball in the hole in as few hits as possible, but you have to do it in style! Do the Hustle, the Funky Chicken, even a little groove is fine. Just get as down as humanely possible if you want to win! Now let's give our lovely disco ladies a chance to get dressed."

"Dressed? Courtney questioned. "What do you mean dre-" Before she could finish, Marina whisked both Courtney and Candace away, promising to explain on the way.

Marilee straggled behind the three, looking like she was thinking something over. After a few seconds, she stopped following them completely and headed toward the exit.

Geoff stepped in front of her, making her momentarily stop. "Mar?" he asked, slightly worried. "W-Where ya going? You aren't quitting, are you?"

"Hold Camille for me, Geoff," she said, handing her putter to him. She lightly shoved him aside and muttered to herself, "I have some funky threads to find…"

*T*S*R*

"I hate you, Chris McLean."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Courtney."

Courtney growled, narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms over her revealing, one strapped tank top. She and Candace had been forced by the interns to change into 70s garb. Well, _Courtney _was forced. Candace was all for it. She absolutely adored the funky purple go-go dress and the white boots that had been provided for her

Candace was the first to putt. Doing a funky little dance up to her ball, she hit the ball with one final spin, making the tile the ball was on light up even brighter than the others.

It was about to make it in the hole, but one of the tiles suddenly raised from the floor, bouncing the ball right back to her.

"What was that about?" Courtney asked Chris.

"Oh, did I not mention that they do that?" he smugly asked.

"Do you _ever_?" Courtney asked, exasperated.

Chris thought it over, then nodded in agreement. "Touché."

Candace straightened out her purple go-go dress, shuffling back up to her ball. With one more hit, she managed to sink it in the hole.

"Ooooh, a hole in two," Chris observed, impressed. "That's going to be hard to beat. You're up next, Courtney."

The former CIT rolled her eyes, leaning her putter against the wall so she wouldn't have to keep holding it. "Please, Marilee isn't even _here_. Why should I bother?"

The host looked around, nodding when he didn't see the blonde. "Hmm. So she isn't."

"Sh-She'll be here soon!" Geoff said, running up to the two. "She's just-"

"I dunno, man," Keith interrupted, walking up to the group. "Mar's been gone for a while. Maybe she chickened out."

"Noooooo!" Geoff whined, childishly stomping his foot. "We were so close!"

Keith sighed, disappointed with his girlfriend. "Dang it. It would have been awesome having my girlfriend in charge."

As the two looked down at their feet sadly and Courtney was pumping her fist in victory, a blur flew past them all at lightning speed. Geoff blinked, wondering what on earth had just happened, but Keith interrupted his thoughts. "Dude, weren't you holding Marilee's putter a second ago?"

Geoff looked down at his empty hand and blinked. "Huh? Where'd it go? It was just here a second ago!" Before anyone could even take a guess as to the putter's whereabouts, someone skated up to them, skidding to a stop on a dime.

The skater was Marilee herself, but holding Camille firmly in her hand and dressed in an entirely different outfit. A much funkier one, I might add. Not only had she clipped a waist-long ponytail extension in her hair and huge hoop earrings, she had, for some reason, brought a bright red strapless disco suit with her on the island. To say the least, she looked stunning.

* * *

"How many wardrobe changes is she going to go through today?" Courtney asked, exasperated. "What is this, Vegas?"

* * *

"Whoa," Keith mumbled in awe. "That outfit makes me wanna…" He looked back over at Geoff, who he figured would not want to hear how much he wanted to make out with her, and finished, "It makes me wanna… tell you that you look very nice. Uh, nothing else…" He glanced down at the flashing floor to avoid any eye contact.

"Oh, really?" Courtney crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at the finely dressed blonde. "I think she looks like a fire hydrant!" She looked at Chris, who looked like he was jotting something down on his clipboard. "Chris, she can't just use her own clothes like that, can she?"

The handsome host looked up from his clipboard and shrugged. "Why not? I'm giving her bonus points for creativity. And the roller skates?" He pointed his pen at her and winked. "Nice touch."

"Why did you bring that here, anyway?" Keith asked Marilee, referring to her outfit.

She placed her hands on her hips and proudly stated, "A girl can never be too prepared in the fashion department."

"And the skates?" Geoff questioned. "I don't remember you having those back home."

Marilee's smile faltered and she looked down at her feet. "Oh, these aren't mine."

"Where'd you get them then?" Candace asked, joining the small group after finally getting her ball from the hole.

Marilee's eyebrows scrunched in thought, and she merely shrugged and muttered, "I dunno."

"But she took forever to get here!" Courtney complained, starting to regret her choice of forfeiting. "That has to count for _some_ sort of disqualification!"

"Sorry, Courtney," Chris insincerely apologized, tucking his clipboard under his arm. "I call the shots and since I never said the game was over, she still has a chance."

The brunette groaned, then pleadingly asked, "Well, can I at least take back my forfeit?"

Chris tapped his chin with his pen, then tucked it behind his ear and said, "Tell you what? If Marilee doesn't get a hole in one, team captain is yours."

Hearing this challenge, Marilee tossed her huge fake ponytail away from her arms, wiped her forehead with her arm, and looked around at her course.

"**YOU CAN DO IT, SIS**!" Geoff screamed at the top of his lungs.

"GEOFF!" Marilee yelled, covering her ears and eying him. "I'm right next to you!"

He looked down, seeing that she indeed was right next to him. "Oh… I knew that. I just thought yelling would emphasize my point."

Marilee gave him a small smile, took a deep breath, and gripped her putter tightly. She skated over to the starting point, dropped her ball, then skated several yards back. At the point she had skated toward, she was alone, but all eyes were on her.

"Okay, you can do this, Marilee," she uttered, giving herself a barely audible pep talk. "Sure, for the past couple of weeks, you haven't had the best of luck, but this is your chance for something good to happen for once… Geoff is counting on you, Keith is counting on you… Courtney's counting on you to lose, but you don't really care about her, so it won't be that bad if you disappoint her… This is your time…"

After taking another deep breath, she quickly started skating toward her ball. The music started to play louder and she was getting closer and closer. When she finally reached it, she skated around it in a smooth circle twice and fiercely hit the ball.

All eyes went from Marilee to the ball. It bounced from one tile to another, each tile flashing a different fluorescent color. Suddenly, one of the tiles raised from the ground, causing her ball to bounce straight toward the ceiling. Courtney was almost certain that that had sealed her fate as one of the newest team captains, until she saw what was happening next.

The golf ball flew toward the twirling disco ball, and bonked right off of it. The spin made it fly toward the hole and, believe it or not, landed straight inside it.

A roar of cheers broke out, and Marilee dropped poor Camille, too excited to use her hands properly. "W-We won?" After a second, she broke out in a huge grin and exclaimed, "I DID IT!"

* * *

"YES!" Geoff cried, ecstatic. "Team Captain Geoff, Co-Captain Marilee and the Dream Team! I can just tell we're gonna go big or go home!" He thought it over for a second, then added, "But hopefully the go big part… Going home wouldn't be that good at all…"

* * *

Marilee spun around, Keith being the first person she saw, about twenty feet away. She grinned even wider and started skating toward him at breakneck speed.

"Way to go, babe!" Keith cheered, holding his arms out to catch her.

"OMIGODI WONWOOHOOYAYGIMMEAHUGPUDDIN'POP!" she blurted out in one long string of words. "IDIDN'-" Before she could finish, she crashed into Keith, knocking them both to the ground.

They both groaned, Marilee laying on Keith on her stomach. After letting out a pained moan, she pumped a fist, muttered, "Woo hoo… I win…" and let her body relax, causing her to roll off of him and onto the lit up floor.

Courtney, who had been silent up until then, let out a gasp, crushed. "What? How did she- Why did- Wh- GAH!" She finally gave up on her unfinished questions and looked down at her feet, crestfallen.

Duncan walked up to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "There there, princess. You'll get 'em next time."

Courtney looked over her shoulder at him, letting a small grin creep onto her lips. "Aww. That's actually sweet of you, Duncan…"

"I know, I'm a saint…" Duncan slid his hand down to the small of her back, smiling. "So you wanna make out?"

"And, of course, you ruin it," Courtney deadpanned, smacking his hand off of her and storming toward the crowd. Duncan rubbed his sore hand and followed her, unaffected by her attitude.

"Yay!" Candace exclaimed, helping Marilee to her feet. "I'm gonna be a team captain now!"

"You were going to be one whether she won or not," Courtney snapped, crossing her arms over her scantily-clad chest.

Not seeming to notice her bitterness, Candace chirped, "I know, but I'm still excited!"

Courtney didn't respond to that, merely waiting for Chris to get the whole competition over with.

After Marilee helped Keith to his feet, Chris proclaimed, "Okay, after that, Marilee is _clearly_ our first place winner! And Candace is taking home the silver!"

"I get silver, too?" Candace asked.

"He just means you got second place, hun," Jovie told her.

Candace looked a little saddened by this statement. "Aww."

"Uh…" Chris looked down at his pen and held it out to her. "You can have this if you want. I think it's just silver paint, but I have like twenty of 'em back at my office."

She instantly perked up. "Yay, thanks!" Candace took the pen and held it up in the light. "Oooh, shiny…"

"What, she gets a team captain position AND a free pen?" Courtney protested. "And since when do you give people _anything_?"

He crossed his arms over his chest, matter-of-factly. "Because, seeing Candace _sad _was so out of character for her… which made _me_ act out of character…"

"And I'm guessing you just being_ nice _is out of the option?" Keith asked, not looking impressed.

Chris looked up at the ceiling, actually thinking it over. "Yes. Yes, it is. Anyway, since Marilee has Geoff, these two are officially the co-captains for our first newest team."

"Yeah!" The siblings high-fived, both extremely stoked.

"And Candace," Chris continued, "Since Owen is not here to be your partner in crime, it's time for you to pick a lone sibling to be your fellow co-captain. You're choices are Keith, Cody, DJ, Heather, Courtney or Gwen. Choose wisely… In other words, don't choose Keith."

"Hey!" Keith whined, crossing his arms and pouting like a little kid.

Candace bit her lip, nervously smiling as she thought it over. She looked at each of them, who had eager looks on their faces, sans Keith, who was still pouting, and Courtney, who just wanted to get the whole thing over with so she could take a nice hot shower.

"Uh… I chooooooooose…." Candace looked back at Chris. "Can't I choose them all?"

"Nope."

"Rats." Candace turned back to them, stroked her chin for several more seconds, thinking as hard as she could about this important decision. She seemed to have finally made her decision, because she smiled and walked over to the one person none of them had expected her to choose.

"I pick Courtney."

As several people raised confused eyebrows and whispered to each other about this choice, Courtney sighed and began, "Great, now that she picked, can we-" When she realized _who _exactly she picked, Courtney blurted out, "Wait, _what_?"

"You heard me, silly billy!" The cheerleader wrapped her arms around the brunette, giving her the tightest hug possible. "Hi, Co-captain Courtney!"

She released her, and once Courtney was able to breathe again, she asked, "But why _me_? Why _me_ out of all these people, most of whom are your friends?"

"That's exactly _why_ I chose you over them," Candace stated, straightening her purple patterned dress free of wrinkles. "I'm _already_ friends with all of them. You, on the other hand, I haven't really gotten to know as well. And what better way to become friends with somebody than lead a team with them, am I right?"

The former CIT was genuinely shocked by this. "R- Really?"

Candace gave a bubbly nod, her sincerity visible from her smile.

"Wow…" Courtney let a small smile slip onto her lips. "That's really nice of you… Thank you!" Happiness consumed her as she threw her arms around her new co-captain, and Courtney was definitely _not_ the type to hug people, so she must have been truly moved.

"Aww, I know," Candace not-so-modestly said, hugging her back.

"If you two are done with your little love fest," Chris interrupted, looking like his patience was thinning. "Okay, once you girls get changed back into some less blinding clothes, everybody meet me at the camp fire pit to find out whose team you're on."

Geoff raised an eyebrow. "You mean we don't get to pick?"

"Nope." Chris shrugged. "Can't be nice all the time."

LeShawna rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, giving Candace an eighty seven cent pen must have taken up all the generosity in your poor little body for the next two months."

Chris wiped his forehead free of sweat and nodded in agreement. "Boy, you're telling me! Now get to it!"

*T*S*R*

Heather, sitting on the steps that lead to the lake shore, looked out at the lake, deep in thought.

Candace, who was back in her civilian clothes and had been looking for someone to hang out with until Chris was ready, couldn't help but notice Heather. She could tell something was amiss, so she slowly approached, sitting next to her. "Hey, Heather! How's it going?"

Heather looked to the side and tried to smile upon seeing her friend. "Oh, hi. I'm okay, I guess."

Candace raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly. "Hmm, that's weird. You sure don't _look_ okay."

Heather sighed, looking back out at the lake. "Gwen still hasn't forgiven me. LeShawna's still mad at me, too. I've tried apologizing, but they won't even listen!" She hid her face in her hands and muttered, "I wish I had never acted like I did last season…"

"Why _did _you act that way?" Candace asked. "Was there even a reason, or were you just a… uh…" She tried to think of a nice way to put it.

"Total bitch?" Heather suggested, knowing it wasn't far from the truth.

"Uh…" Candace sheepishly grinned. "Yeah…"

The Asian girl removed her hands from her face, opting to look at her lap instead of at Candace while she told her tale. "I don't really_ know _why I acted so horribly. I wasn't that awful back home… Okay, maybe I wasn't the nicest girl around, but I wasn't like I was last summer… When I first came to the island… I wanted to win _so badly_." Heather paused for a moment, then continued, "I guess I figured that being nice would show weakness, and you know what they say about survival of the fittest…"

"How did your friends back home react when you got home?" Candace asked.

Heather's frown got even deeper and she mumbled, "I lost all of them. Every. Single. One." She wiped her eyes free of tears that threatened to escape, and Candace was quick to wrap a caring arm around her. "Nobody wants to be friends with TV's worst reality show star…"

"Oh, sweetie," Candace soothingly said, trying to think of something to contradict what she just said. "You weren't the _worst_. Have you ever watched Jersey Shore? Snooki is _waaaay_ worse than you were."

Heather couldn't help but laugh. "While I can't really deny that, it doesn't mean that helped my old friends like me again," she said, now completely free of tears. "But I guess it's okay. There was a group of girls at school who were nice to me. Th-they really helped me better myself… They were much nicer than my old friends, anyway."

"Your old friends were the popular mean girl types, I'm assuming?" Candace guessed. Heather nodded in response and Candace nodded as well. "There's a bunch of them on the cheer squad. Like there's this one girl Ashley who is always so mean to everybody, even when they don't do anything wrong and she always wants to be on top of the pyramid even though that's _my _position and she makes fun of this chubbier girl on the squad named Haley, which is totally mean and I think Ashley got a boob job last year 'cause-"

"Candace, is there a point to this story?" Heather interrupted, not seeing where she was going with her ramble about fake-chested Ashley.

"Oh. Right." Candace blushed. "My point was that it's better to hang out with people who make you feel better about yourself, not worse. That's what I do. I talk to Ashley because I sorta have to and I'm nice to her, even though she isn't back… But my true friends are the nicest people you could ever meet!"

"I still wish LeShawna and Gwen would forgive me," Heather told her, resting her chin in her hand.

The cheerleader nodded. "I hate to tell you this, but I think it's going to take more than a verbal apology to convince them that you've truly changed. Actions speak louder than words, you know."

Heather thought over what she had said and nodded. "You're right. You know, you're totally _not _stupid. The opposite, actually. Chris shouldn't keep assuming you are."

She shrugged, still smiling. "Eh, it comes with the title of being Owen's sister. You get used to it. And I'm sorry I chose Courtney over you. If she wasn't here, you totally would have been my first choice!"

"That's fine, I think it was sweet why you chose her." Heather smiled and gave her a hug. "You really are a good person, Candace."

"Aww… I know!"

"We'd better get going," Heather said, standing up and helping Candace up, too. "Marilee's probably got all her hair extensions out by now."

"You go ahead," Candace told her, dusting her butt free of the sand that was on the steps. "I need to check on something before I leave."

Heather looked confused by this, but shrugged and started walking off. "Okay, see you later, then."

Once Heather was out of sight, Candace walked down the steps, faced them, and placed her hands on her hips. "I know you're under there, DJ," she called out, a smug smirk on her face.

A pair of dark eyes peered out at her from a crack in the steps and he slowly stepped out from underneath them. "H-How'd you know?"

"I saw you wander under there a few minutes ago." DJ looked panicked for a second, until Candace placed a hand on his arm and told him, "Don't worry, big guy. Heather didn't see you."

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop!" DJ pleaded. "I was looking for Bunny and went under there and didn't want to just walk out and have you guys think I was creepy and-"

"DJ, DJ, it's okay!" Candace interrupted him, giggling at his nervousness. "I know you're not the type to spy on people." Once DJ breathed a sigh of relief, she asked, "So how much did you hear?"

"Pretty much her entire explanation," DJ said, sitting down on the steps. "Wow, she must have had it hard, but at least it made her the person she is today."

Candace nodded in agreement, taking a seat next to him. She was silent for a moment, until she turned her head toward him and said, "I think she likes you. Like, _like_ likes you."

"R-Really?"

"Yeah. Do you… feel the same way about her?"

DJ looked down at his lap. "I think so. But I'm not sure I'm ready for a relationship with her. My momma says you can't rush romance."

"Marilee and Keith kind of rushed and they seem to be doing fine," Candace said with a shrug. "And you and Heather have technically known each other for a year now. That's not really rushing."

DJ thought over that. "Hey, you're right!" DJ clapped her on the back. "Thanks, girl. You're smarter than most people give you credit for."

Candace smirked and rolled her eyes. "Don't I know it."

*T*S*R*

Once everybody was around the campfire pit, Chris took his place in front of the group. "Here's the moment you've all been waiting for. Geoff, Marilee, get on up here. Time for the new teams, and new team names!"

"Whoop de doo," Duncan muttered, twirling a mockingly enthusiastic finger in the air.

"Duncan, this is serious!" Courtney told him. "What if we're not on the same team?"

"Why, thank you for bring that up, Courtney!" Chris said, pointing to Duncan, Selena and Zoey. "Because the Calivers are the first family to join Team Anderson."

"Yay!" Selena cheered, running up and giving Marilee a big hug.

Duncan looked at his girlfriend apologetically as he and Zoey walked up and he fist-bumped Geoff.

"Y-You can't do that!" Courtney protested, stomping her foot on the grass. "You're doing this just to spite me!"

"I am not!" Chris argued. "Oh, wait… Yes, I am! Keith, you're up next, buddy."

Courtney gasped as Keith walked past her and toward the team.

* * *

"He lets Marilee be with her boyfriend, but won't let me be with mine?" Courtney fumed. She slapped herself on the forehead and said, "Okay, you know what? Whatever. I won't let him get to me, and I won't let Duncan and me being on separate teams affect our relationship. I mean, the two of us can handle that… Right?"

* * *

Keith walked up to the group, wrapping his arms around both Marilee and Selena. "Hey, girls. It's going to be great being on the same team as you two lovely ladies," he flirtatiously purred.

Selena giggled, but wrapped her arms around him back, in a friendly manner. "Uh, Keith, I kind of have a boyfriend, you know… And a Duncan," she told him, jerking her head in Duncan's direction, who was giving Keith the stink eye.

"What a coincidence!" Keith cried out, releasing Selena and hugging Marilee so tightly, she let out a small cough. "I happen to have a totally smokin' hot girlfriend, and I only do monogamy. Tough luck for you, Selena."

"Oh, gee." Selena rolled her eyes and laughed. "I don't know how I'll ever live without you, Keith Carlisle…"

Keith nodded, mockingly knowing her fake pain must have been horrible. "I know it will be tough, but you'll have to go through with your life, completely Keithless."

He gave Marilee a big kiss, making Geoff gag behind them. "Dude, I'm right here!"

Keith stopped smooching Marilee and the two shot Geoff a look. "Consider it payback for having to watch you snog my sister ten times a day."

Geoff considered this, then sighed, "Got me there."

Chris loudly cleared his throat so that he would be the center of attention once more. "Anyway, to finish this team off, we've got Trent, Grace, and everybody's favorite teddy bear of a guy, DJ!"

"Hey, step-sibs!" Geoff greeted Trent and Grace, shortly after giving DJ a fist bump.

"Don't call them that!" Marilee hissed, tugging on his ear so his head was level to hers. "Our parents are just dating!"

Grace raised a confused eyebrow and looked up at her brother. "What's he talking about, Trent?"

Trent looked down at her, worry evident in his eyes. "Uh, nothing…"

* * *

"I know I should tell her, or I should call my dad so he can explain it, buuuuut…" Trent sighed, shaking his head. "I don't think either of us know how to break it to her… Dad dating might be too much for her to handle…"

* * *

"Congratulations! You all are officially The Fighting Ferrets!"

"Yeah! WOO-HOO! Yeah, we're the…. Fighting Ferrets?" Geoff stopped cheering, once he registered their ridiculous name into his brain. "Dude, seriously?"

Chris ignored him and pointed to Candace and Courtney. "Heather, Gwen, LeShawna and Jovie, Cody and the Wonder Twins," he listed, the latter name referring to Herbie and Xavier. "Meet the leaders of your new team, the Raving Ravens!"

"Do you do shots of whiskey while you think of these team names?" Gwen skeptically asked.

"No!" Chris shouted defensively. "… I may have had a glass of wine or two while in the thought process, but no whiskey…"

"Yay!" Candace cheered, hugging each and every individual member, Heather the hardest. "We're gonna rock this competition!"

"Weeeeell…" Chris smiled his Chris-like smile. "Noooooot exaaaaaaactly…"

"Huh?"

"Since you only got a hole in two and Marilee got a hole in one, that technically makes you today's loser, which means that your team will be in the hot seats tonight."

"Oh…" Candace looked down at her feet. "I hadn't thought of that…"

"Don't you worry your stupid little head, Candace," Chris reassured her, earning him several glares from the new team for insulting Candace. "Since it would be pointless for the team captains to be voted off first thing, you and Courtney will receive immunity for tonight.

The two breathed a sigh of relief, and Chris added, "But I honor of your hole in two, you'll be voting off _two_ of your teammates!"

After a round of gasps and much protesting, Chris held up a hand and silenced them. "No arguments! Before we vote, you'll need to move your things. The Ravens will be staying in the old Bears cabin and the Ferrets will be bunking in the Wolves cabin. Get moving!" The Ravens glumly headed to grab their possessions and the Ferrets did the same, with much less gloom.

Chris turned toward the camera and grinned. "Now seems like a good time for a commercial break, huh? Unless you all want to see more of me…" He grinned even wider, then stopped and gripped his jaw in pain. "Ow! Never mind, smiling that hard is going to ruin my beautifully chiseled jaw." He rubbed it and pouted. "I dunno how Candace does this twenty four seven…" He noticed the camera was still running and continued, "But we'll be right back to **TOTAL! SIBLING! RIVALRY!"**

**

* * *

**

I hate Jersey Shore. And Snooki. Somebody should just smack her… Oh wait… Somebody DID. C:

But don't think Gwen and Shawnie are cool about Heather being on their team. They're FAR from cool… :O


	36. Day 15, Part 3: OOCandace

"Y'know, it's bad enough being on the same team as Heather," LeShawna began, not looking the least bit happy. "But being on a team where I'm reminded of my skank of a sister every time Chris announces the team name is goin' **way **too far!" She thought over what she had said for a moment, then sheepishly grinned. "Hehe… No offense or anything, sis…"

* * *

Heather sighed, placing some of her maroon t-shirts into her suitcase. Any second, LeShawna would be coming to move into the girls' side of the new Raving Ravens cabin with Jovie. And the housewarming would most likely involve Heather's head being shaved in her sleep.

Jovie didn't seem to hold any grudge against her, due to her peaceful nature and lack of interaction with the new Heather, but she wasn't worried much about the younger Jones girl. It was LeShawna that really had her sweating bullets.

* * *

"Living with Gwen was torturous enough," Heather admitted, "but mix her, me _and_ LeShawna?" She covered her face with her hands. "Let us simmer for about five minutes and you get a piping hot cup of Heather Stew…"

* * *

LeShawna and Jovie finally arrived, Heather quickly slamming her suitcase shut as the door flung open.

"Hi, LeShawna, Jovie!" Candace perkily greeted, running up to the two. "So which bunks do you guys want? The bunk under Gwen is free now and so is the one under Courtney."

"I'll be fine with either as long as I'm as far away from Heather as possible," LeShawna grumpily told her, throwing her suitcase on the bunk bed under Gwen's.

Candace's joy faded slightly and she told her, "Actually, she's _my_ bunk buddy!"

"Candace, you may be smarter than most people assume," Gwen started, walking over to the two, "but if you're actually believing the crap Heather's trying to sell, then you're stupider than you think."

Heather, suddenly angered by that jab toward Candace, spun around and glared at Gwen. "If you're so freaking superior to her, then why'd she beat you for team captain?"

"Because the local putt-putt isn't exactly the hit Goth hangout back home," Gwen shot back. "And nobody was talking to you!"

"Well, I'm not going to just stand by and let you insult my friend," Heather said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Both Gwen and LeShawna snorted at this and LeShawna said, "_Please_, you insulted your so-called friends every chance you could get last year! We all know you ain't changed!"

"No, everybody knows _but _you two!" Candace yelled out, speaking up again. "You guys don't have to be so mean to poor Heather!"

Gwen jabbed a finger in Heather's direction and asked, "Do you even see who you're talking about?"

"Yes, I do!" Candace stood by Heather, giving her a big hug. "I see a girl who is asking for a second chance. A girl who _deserves_ a second chance. And you guys are being such… such… Season One Heathers!" She looked back at Heather and sheepishly grinned. "No offense."

"Oh, no you didn't!" LeShawna yelled, pushing up her sleeve. "Girl, you're messin' with the wrong sista!"

"No, I'm not!" Candace whined, not understanding her ghetto talk. "Jovie didn't do anything bad to Heather!"

"That's not what I mea-"

"What do you mean _Season One Heathers_?" Gwen interrupted, looking both confused and angry.

"**I mean**, you guys are bullying Heather even though she's done nothing wrong this year, just like she did to you guys last year." Candace crossed her arms, her rare frown getting even deeper. "Two wrongs don't make a right, you know!" She gave the two a glare, and from her, it truly made them shiver. "C'mon, Heather," the cheerleader said, resting her hands on her friend's shoulders. "We still need to vote…" She nudged her out the door, loudly slamming it behind her.

Gwen and LeShawna stared at the door even though Candace was no longer by it. They were no longer mad… They were just deep in thought over the profound words she had said.

"She's right, you know."

The two turned around to see Courtney had finally hopped off her bunk, looking at the two skeptically. "It's not like I'm that fond of the girl either, but even **I **haven't said or done anything as harsh as you guys have."

LeShawna slapped her forehead. "Have y'all forgotten what she did to us last year?"

"Exactly. _Last _year." Courtney rolled her eyes. "Seriously, think about it. Would the old Heather have been _this_ nice for _this_ long, even if she was just trying to trick you two?" She shook her head and walked out, quietly shutting the door behind her.

Jovie, who had been standing on the sidelines, unsure of how to approach the situation, looked over at her sister and the Goth. Gwen was looking over at LeShawna, an unsure look on her face. LeShawna's expression didn't show any specific emotion, but she was definitely thinking about something. "Shawnie?" Jovie approached her sister, worry evident on her face. She gently touched her arm. "A-Are you o-"

"I need to go vote," LeShawna shakily interrupted, walking out the door. Jovie looked as she did, even more worried. LeShawna seemed so distant. It was hard to tell what she was feeling…

Jovie looked back over at Gwen, just as worried. "Gwen? Girl? Are _you_ okay?"

Gwen, still looking worried, nodded. "Yeah… Yeah… I just… I need to go vote, too… Let's go." As she wandered out the door, Jovie let out a small sigh and followed her.

* * *

"Maybe…" Gwen sighed and placed a hand on her head, which was throbbing from how hard she had been thinking. "Maybe Courtney and Candace are right, as much as I **hate** to admit it…" She frowned and shook her head. "No, no! Heather's a horrible little monster and she needs to be voted off, so that's exactly who I voted for! And since there's not really anybody else I want to see leave, I just picked one of the twins' names." She shrugged. "I figure I won't miss one anymore than the other…"

* * *

"I can't believe how mean I was to LeShawna and Gwen," Candace admitted, looking like she was on the verge of tears. "B-But they sorta deserved to hear it, right?" She slapped herself on the forehead and cried, "Look at me! I wasn't this mean before coming to the island! I've become an animal!"

* * *

"Candace is being too hard on herself," Courtney stated, arms crossed over her chest. "LeShawna and Gwen really did need to hear what she had to say." She faintly smiled. "I think the girl's starting to warm up to me. Maybe having her as a co-captain won't be so bad… But I voted for the twins. I don't have anything against them, but they _are _the weakest members of this team. Survival of the fittest!"

* * *

"Campers," Chris began, holding the platter of marshmallows, "I must say, even though you lost, you team had some of the best golfers… Except for Cody, but one of you had to suck, right?"

"Hey!" Cody whined, but Chris didn't really acknowledge it.

"Anyway, there are nine of you, but only seven marshmallows on this plate." He held the plate out toward them to prove it. "Two of you are finished here, never to return."

"Pssh, yeah right," Gwen scoffed. "We know you're going to bring somebody back eventually."

"Am not!" Chris childishly told her, stomping his foot. "That would be too predictable! And you all know how I hate to be predictable!" After calming himself down, he continued, "Anyway, let's get the drama started… Since it would be pointless to wait for you two to get your marshmallows, Courtney and Candace are the first to receive them."

Once he tossed them both one, he turned to Herbie. "Surprisingly, you get one, too."

He tossed two more to LeShawna and Jovie and stated, "You two are also safe for tonight. And Cody, my man, you're safe, too!" He tossed him a marshmallow and turned to the three remaining campers.

"Gwen, Heather, and Xavier. There are two of you, but only one marshmallow left." The three exchanged glances, Gwen's turning into a glare when her eyes hit Heather.

Xavier looked nervously back at Herbie, who looked just as nervous. They had never been separated from each other… _ever_! What the heck would they do without each other if he got booted off?

"The final marshmallow goes to…

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"Gwen."

With a smirk, Gwen caught her marshmallow, shooting Heather a superior look.

Candace gasped, heartbroken from her friend's elimination. Heather, however, didn't look so surprised.

"Yeah, that's right!" LeShawna yelled, jumping up from her seat with joy. "Take your scrawny behind outta here before I throw it out!"

Heather sighed, standing up. "Okay." She started walking toward a bush by the tiki lights.

"Girl, don't make me- Wait, what?" LeShawna stared at her as she pulled her luggage out of the bush she approached. "You ain't mad?"

"And you… already packed?" Gwen questioned. "Okay, what is up with you?"

"Did you expect me to put up a fight like I would have last year?" Heather asked, a slight twinge of sadness in her voice. "That would be a little dumb, since I voted for myself."

Every contestant stared at her, completely shocked by this. Chris didn't look shocked, more like she had answered a question for him. "Oh, were _you_ the one who voted for yourself twice?" He shrugged. "I figured it was Gwen."

"Okay, okay, hold up!" LeShawna yelled, throwing her hands in the air and walking toward Gwen and Heather. "Will you explain what's goin' on here before I blow a gasket?"

"Like it would take that much to do so," Courtney grumbled under her breath, earning a glare from LeShawna.

Heather took a breath and admitted, "Well, you and Gwen refuse to believe I've changed, not that I can blame you…" She looked down at her feet and sat her luggage down. "I guess you guys aren't ready to forgive me, and me being here isn't helping much. You two don't believe my verbal apologies, so I figured I should _show_ you how sorry I am instead of just _saying_ it. What better way than getting myself voted off, right?"

Candace gasped, ran up to her and said, "When I told you to do more than apologize, that's _not _what I meant!" She gave her a big hug and started to cry. "I'm so sorry! W-We were just getting to be good friends and-"

"Wow," Gwen mumbled, interrupting Candace's cries. "That's just… I… I can't believe you did that."

"Me neither," LeShawna added, looking just as shell-shocked.

"Is that _**all **_you have to say?" Candace yelled, causing everybody to jump. "Heather just made a huge sacrifice to get your stubborn butts to forgive her and that's _**all **_you two can say?"

"Whoa, Candace, calm down!" Heather said, looking concerned. "This isn't like you!"

"Well, I'm sick of being nice all the time!" Candace crossed her arms and glared at the two. "People like _you_ expect me to be this perfect little princess who doesn't have a mean bone in her body and they think they can say whatever they want to me and my friends!"

"What did we ever do to you?" Gwen asked.

"You called me stupid for no reason!" Candace pointed out. "And you've been so mean to Heather this year even though she hasn't even done anything bad and-"

"Will you _please_ hush for a second?" Gwen interrupted, turning to Heather. She smiled and added, "…So I can tell Heather I forgive her."

LeShawna patted Heather on the back and grinned just as widely as Gwen did. "So do I."

Candace's scowl instantly flipped into a huge smile and she squealed with delight. "Really? Yay!"

"You do?" Heather asked, completely shocked. "I-I mean, I'm really happy if you guys do, but I wasn't expecting you to do it this soon!"

"Girl, you missed out on the chance for a half a million dollars just to get us to forgive you," LeShawna pointed out. "Please, it's the _least_ we can do!"

"Yeah, this _definitely_ proves that you're for real with this 'new girl' thing," Gwen said. "I'm just sorry you had to get booted off for this to happen…"

Heather waved it off like it was nothing. "Meh, it's fine. You guys deserve it more than I do. And even if I _had_ won, I would have had to split it with my brother and he would have used his half to buy some fancy stink bomb to hide in my sock drawer…"

Gwen sighed. "I still feel bad for voting for you, though…"

"Same here," LeShawna told her.

"Me too," Candace piped up.

"What?" LeShawna asked. "_You_ voted for her? I thought she was one of your girls."

"Oh, of course not," Candace said, clutching her hands nervously. "I just feel bad. Y'know, for being mean to you guys."

Gwen scoffed and said, "We sort of needed it. No hard feelings."

Candace giggled in happiness and called out, "Aww, group hug!" The four girls gathered each other up in a big hug, and the cheerleader looked over her shoulder. "C'mon guys, join in!"

Herbie and Xavier clung to Heather and Candace's legs, while Jovie squeezed between Gwen and LeShawna. Cody was more than happy to get between all those lovely ladies as well. Candace looked to see Courtney was still sitting by the bonfire, looking uncomfortable at the thought of being hugged by all those people. "Don't be shy, Courtney! Join in!"

Courtney looked hesitant at first, but sighed and shrugged. "Eh, why not?" She walked over to the group and squeezed herself between Gwen and Candace.

"Ugh, baaaaarf," Chris moaned, looking disgusted by all the compassion and feelings they were expressing for one another. "Look, the boat's all revved up. If Heather and Xavier don't get on it soon, Chef's gonna get steamed. Cut all the touchy feely hoo-ha and move it!"

The group separated and, looking kind of glum, headed toward the Dock of Shame.

*T*S*R*

Everybody was gathered on the dock, even the members of the other team. DJ awkwardly walked over to Heather, who looked happy to see him.

"I'm really going to miss you, Deej," Heather told him, giving him a big hug. "You were my friend before anybody else would be, even Candace."

"N-No problem," he said, patting her lightly on the back. "I'm just sorry you have to leave."

She stepped away and smiled up at him. "It's okay. Gwen and LeShawna forgave me so, no matter how cheesy it sounds, I'm still a winner…"

"Right, that's great," DJ said, sheepishly looking at his feet. Should he follow Candace's advice and go for it? But what if her hunch about Heather's mutual feelings was wrong? Candace has been wrong about things before, but being wrong about something like _this_ would be terrible! Still, he made his choice, hoping it would be the best one...

Heather frowned. "Are you okay?"

"Heather… I… You… Can I…" Giving up on all the words he couldn't manage to fit into proper sentences, he leaned down and kissed her chastely on the cheek. Surprised by the sudden peck, her hand flew up to touch the spot where his lips had been. She looked back at him, almost uncertain of what to say.

"I-I'm sorry!" DJ squeaked. "I shouldn't have done that it was too pushy that was rude I shouldn't-"

Heather rolled her eyes and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, making his cease his ramblings. Slowly drawing him closer to her, she gave him a deep kiss, right on the lips. After a couple of seconds of the affectionate moment, Heather released him, raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Are you sorry now?"

DJ grinned the widest grin he had grinned in a while. "Not at all." Blowing him a kiss, she walked toward the end of the dock, looking over her shoulder and waving at him as she did. Gwen and LeShawna gave Heather one last hug before she stepped onto the boat.

"You're okay, Heather," Gwen admitted, smiling. "Maybe after the show, we could actually be… friends."

Heather smiled at the two as well. "I'd like that."

Zoey and Xavier, who was still on the dock, were saying one last goodbye to each other. "Aww, I'm gonna miss you, Xavie!"

"Me too," Xavier said, looking saddened. "Guess we'll just have to make mud pies when the show's over…"

"Oh, I made you this after dinner!" Zoey suddenly chirped, pulling a piece of paper out from behind her back and handed it to him. It displayed several colorful, but crudely drawn scribbles. "It's you and me, see? I'm the purple one and you're the green one! But it got sort of boring, so I added a flamingo, too… It's the pink one!"

"Ooooh, cool! Thanks!" Xavier folded it up and tucked the drawing into his pocket, then gave her a small peck on the cheek.

While the older girls cooed at the utter cuteness, Duncan's eyes narrowed and he stormed over to the two. Picking him up by the back of his green shirt, he yelled, "Yeah yeah, get on the boat, Casanova!" and threw him onto the boat right before it jetted off.

As the others waved the two losers off, Jovie looked around, noticing the absence of another teammate of theirs.

"Hey, where's Herbie?"

*T*S*R*

Heather rested her chin in the palm of her hand, looking at the island as it turned into nothing but a small speck. She looked over at Xavier, who was sitting next to her. "At least we'll get to relax at Playa de Losers… But I bet you'll miss your brother, huh?"

"Yeah," Xavier sighed, looking at his feet as he dangled them over the edge of the seat. "Now I won't have anyone to eat worms with…" He looked up at Heather hopefully, causing her eyes to widen.

"I'm not _that_ nice now!"

"… I didn't think so."

A little redhead suddenly popped out from one of the random crates on the Boat of Losers and landed in front of them. "Surprise!"

"Herbie?" Heather asked, totally shocked. "Wh-What are you doing here? You weren't voted off!"

"I couldn't let my brother leave me behind!" Herbie bounced over to his brother and sat between him and Heather.

"But this means you guys aren't in the competition anymore!" Heather told them.

Herbie's smile disappeared. "Oh… I hadn't thought of that."

Xavier shrugged. "We probably wouldn't have won, anyway."

Herbie perked back up. "Good point!"

Heather stared at the two for a moment and shook her head, but she couldn't help but smile.

*T*S*R*

While almost all of the Raving Ravens had gone to bed, Courtney had stayed behind. She roasted her marshmallow over the fire with care, pulled it out of the embers, and gently blew on it. She was about to take a bite, but saw a figure approach.

When she saw who exactly it was, her eyes narrowed. "What do _you_ want, Marilee?"

Arms crossed behind her back, Marilee sighed, avoiding eye contact with the former CIT. "I just wanted to… apologize."

Courtney raised an eyebrow and told her, "Continue," before taking a small bite out of her marshmallow.

"I didn't mean all that awful stuff I said before," she admitted, kicking a small pebble by her feet. "I guess I got a little too competitive."

Courtney looked at her skeptically at first, but let out a sigh and said, "Well, I'd be lying if I said I never got as competitive as you did today." She finished off her marshmallow.

"Yeah, I let the competition get the best of me," Marilee confessed, rubbing the back of her neck. "I know it's weird to apologize to the competition, but I really was out of line… And ever since I came to this island, when I do bad things to people, I get this icky feeling in my stomach…" She scratched her chin, trying to think. "What's the word…?"

"Guilt?" Courtney suggested, tossing her empty roasting stick aside.

Marilee snapped her fingers and pointed at the brunette. "That's it! I mean, I've gotten the feeling before, but I just always sorta ignored it…"

Courtney nodded in understanding. "I used to be like that, too… You know, you remind me of a younger me."

* * *

"I'm going to assume that wasn't an insult," Marilee stated, arms crossed.

* * *

"Anyway, I'm sorry for saying you didn't have as much talent as me," Marilee apologized. "And acted so smug… And made fun of your ashy complexion."

Courtney's eyes widened and she half-yelled, "When did you make fun of my skin?"

Marilee nervously giggled and said, "Well, I only _thought _the last part, but I'm still really sorry."

Courtney allowed the faintest grin to creep onto her lips. "Apology accepted. You will be a most worthy opponent."

"As will you," Marilee said with a nod and a smile.

The two bid each other a good night, then headed toward their cabins to get some well-earned shut eye.

*T*S*R*

Gwen, having just finished her nightly bathroom rituals, was fully dressed in her pajamas and was heading toward the cabin. When she reached the steps, she was surprised to find Candace sitting there. She didn't look nearly as sad as she had before. "Hi, Gwen."

"Hey." Gwen sat down next to her. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said before. You're definitely smart. I was way out of line for saying that."

Candace waved a hand, like it was nothing. "It's fine. I think I hold too many things in, and then it comes out like… projectile vomit."

Gwen cringed and muttered, "That was a very… descriptive way to put it. But I wanted to ask you something."

"Shoot!"

"Back at the campfire ceremony, you said, 'People like you.' What did you mean by that?"

Candace sheepishly looked down at her feet. "Well, there's this girl at my school named Violet. She's a Goth like you, only really, _really_ mean. She sort of makes fun of me. You know, 'cause I'm a cheerleader and all happy and stuff and I don't listen to scary, screamy music." She rubbed her bare arms to keep herself warm from the cold. "I mostly ignore it, because telling someone would probably make it worse. Besides… I don't mind it that much."

"That's horrible," Gwen told her, patting her shoulder. "It's one thing to be a jerk to the snobby cheerleaders, but to the nice ones like you?" She shook her head. "That's a disgrace to the Goth community."

"But saying that you were like her was terrible," Candace said, frowning once more. "I'm, like, _really _sorry!"

"It's cool," Gwen told her, standing up. "I know I'm not the most pleasant girl on the island."

"But you're definitely the nicest Goth I've ever met," Candace told her, getting up along with her. "But since Violet's like the only one I know… Still, you're way nice!"

Gwen laughed and said, "It's been a rough day. Let's hit the hay."

"I kind of wanted to say goodnight to Geoff," Candace started, looking sheepishly to the side.

"It's too bad you two are leading two competing teams," Gwen told her, looking sympathetic. "It'll make it hard when you two finally hook up."

A small blush crept onto the strawberry blonde's cheeks and she asked, "I-Is it really obvious that I like him that much?"

Gwen rolled her eyes and told her, "Just like it's obvious that he feels the same way."

"You really think so?" Candace asked, a little too excited. "I mean, we had fun on that little date we went on a while ago, but I wasn't sure if-"

"Please, _astronauts on the moon _could tell you two like each other," Gwen said, crossing her arms and smirking. "People are starting to place bets on when you two will finally start making out."

Candace giggled, blushing even harder. "Uh, really?"

"Yeah… But if you decide to randomly start kissing him six days from now, I'll be willing to split the profits," she said with a faint smile.

Candace giggled and said, "Sorry you and Trent aren't on the same team. That must be tough, since you're dating and all."

Gwen shrugged. "It's fine. Our relationship is strong enough that we won't get all competitive and nasty or anything."

"Yay!" Candace cheered, clapping a little. "I guess we'll be able to talk to them tomorrow… Unless you wanna sneak over to their cabin so the four of us can be snuggle buddies!"

Gwen raised an eyebrow, but couldn't help but still smile. "I'm not really a 'snuggle buddy' kind of person." She shook her head, laughed and said, "C'mon, sunshine, we need shut-eye…" She started walking into the cabin, Candace close behind her.

Before she shut the door, she muttered, "Maybe if Zack was still here, he and Selena would wanna be our snuggle buddies…"

"I sort of doubt Duncan would be cool with two dudes, especially my brother, getting comfy with Selena."

"Oh. Right…"

*T*S*R*

Keith approached Geoff, who was hanging out by the abandoned bonfire pit, and sat down so he was facing him. "So, uh, congrats on you guys winning." He shiftily looked around, making sure they were alone.

Geoff noticed his tenseness and told him, "Dude, chill! We're alone."

Keith loosened up a bit, slouching slightly in his seat. "Mar seems pretty happy. At least things are finally going her way." He smirked and straightened up a bit. "But, y'know, I don't think lying to her was really that good of an idea."

"C'mon, it was just a little white lie!" Geoff cried. "It helped us win, didn't it?"

"Yeah…" Keith grinned and fist-bumped Geoff. "And I gotta give you your props, that plan of yours was pretty stealthy."

"I know, right?" Geoff grinned proudly. "But thanks for doing that, dude. Since I was the one who was pushing her to try, she probably wouldn't believe me if _I _told her I shot off that golf ball gun."

"Did that golf tournament really have a golf ball shooter?" Keith asked, scratching his head. "Mar's right, somebody probably _would_ get sued over that..."

"Of course not," Geoff said, like it was obvious. "That'd just be stupid… And that's coming from _me_!"

Keith threw his hands up and cried, "Alright, sheesh! How should I know? I've never been to a mini golf tournament before!"

"You and I know that, but my sister doesn't," Geoff told him in a sing-song voice. "She hurt a few people with her flyaway ball like four years ago on a fluke, but she did awesome today! Telling her a dumb little fib isn't that bad, if it got us the win."

"I'm still not that cool with lying to her," Keith admitted, scratching the back of his head. "So you'd better hold up your end of the bargain, man."

Geoff placed a hand over his heart and raised the other, like he was taking an oath. "I'm a dude of my word!"

Keith's face brightened. "So I'm allowed to make out with Marilee as much as I want, even in front of you, with no complaints?"

Geoff nodded. "As long as you don't knock her up, I'll look away from you and your grody PDA and not whine at _all_."

"Can I be her snuggle buddy?"

"As long as you aren't in a bed… or naked."

Keith gave him a funny look. "Dude, I said 'snuggle buddies,' not-"

Geoff let out a small scream and slapped his hands over his ears. "Duuuude, I don't wanna even _think_ about that!"

Keith shrugged and stood up. "Fair enough. And for the record, I would _never_ go that far with your sister! For I deeply respect women and their great assets to society… And their breastets and-"

"You need to learn to quit while you're ahead, bro," Geoff told him, not looking impressed.

The skated boy sighed, looking down at his sneakers. "Right…"

The two headed off to bed, but not before Geoff made a stop to the Confession Can.

* * *

"Do I feel bad about lying to my little sis?" Geoff questioned. "Sure I do. Do I _regret_ it?" He chuckled and answered, "Not a bit. I did it for a good cause! Like that Robin Hood dude…" He cringed and added, "Except for the tights and junk… But still, I'm slyer than you thought, huh?" He crossed his arms. "I told you I wasn't as stupid as I seem, dudes!"

* * *

"Yes!" DJ cheered. "Heather and I are officially together!…" His grin faded after a few seconds of thought and he mumbled, "Except now she's gone…" His frown deepened and he looked down glumly at his feet. "Man. I have the worst luck…"

* * *

"Sooo, apparently Herbie vamoosed with Xavier and Heather when no one was looking," Cody explained. "When we told Chris, he didn't really seem to care, so..." He shrugged and added, "Meh, none of us really do, either... So... This means I have the guy side of the Raving Ravens cabin all to myself..." He suddenly grinned and pumped his fists in the air. "Awesome! Party time with the Codester! A party... all... by... myself..." Cody calmed down and looked at his feet, then back at the camera. "Still... 'tis awesome..."

* * *

"I hope Trent and I really don't get all competitive and nasty," Gwen mused, looking nervous. "I don't think we will… Will we?"

* * *

"Soooo," Grace started, a sly smile on her face. "I saw something _very_ interesting during that game of mini golf… I've been pretty laid back for the past couple of weeks, just waiting for the right moment to strike. That moment has almost come! Those butt faces who underestimate me haven't seen _anything _yet!" She rubbed her hands together and evilly giggled. "Just. You. Wait!"

* * *

"Well, there you have it!" Chris announced, standing on the dimly lit Dock of Shame. "Both Heather and Izzy's families are officially out of the competition!"

"Until you bring one of them back!" called out some unidentifiable voice.

"Maybe your mom will bring them back!" Chris lamely shot back. Clearing his throat, he looked back at the camera and grinned. "But what will the competition bring for our new teams next time? You can only find out here, on **Total! Sibling! Rivalry!**"

* * *

SNAP. GRACE, YOU CLIFF-HANGING LITTLE MONKEY.

And DJ finally gets some love!

... Too bad Heather is gone now. And I'm not happy about doing so, but it had to be done. And Herbie and Xavier... I don't think many people will be sad to see them go xD

Yeah... A lot of plotholes closed. And a few more have been opened... So yeah... See you next challenge around! PEACE OUT, SUCKA


	37. Day 16, Part 1: The Age Old Battle

Keith stumbled out of the Fighting Ferrets cabin, fully dressed and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He had just gotten up, a little later than the others. Walking past the window of the girl's side of the cabin, he stopped seeing that somebody was still sound asleep. His favorite lady, to be exact.

Marilee had kicked her covers off in the middle of the night, so he could see she was dressed in just a midriff t-shirt with a bright blue M on it and blue pajama shorts. Her hair was tied back in a sloppy ponytail and she had no makeup on, so she didn't look nearly as fabulous as usual. Still, Keith couldn't help but stare.

"Having fun, stalker boy?"

"YAH!" Keith shrieked, spinning around to find Jovie looking at him, eyebrow raised and hands on her hips. "J-Jovie! Shouldn't you be… y'know… Raving it up with the Ravens?" he lamely asked.

"I was, but then I saw you standing over here and wanted to see what was up," Jovie explained, looking him over. "So what exactly are you doing? As if I didn't already know the answer…"

He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, trying to think of a good excuse. "I-I was just-"

"Being Edward-Cullen-stalker-creepy?" she suggested, letting a small smirk creep onto her lips.

* * *

Holly looked around the Confession Cam, confused. "I dunno why, but during breakfast back at the intern headquarters, I got this really weird feeling. Like some_one_, some_where_ on the island just insulted Edward…"

* * *

"Well, can you blame me?" He rested his arms on the sill of the open window and dreamily sighed, looking back at Marilee. "She's amazing…"

Marilee scrunched her face a little, grumbled in her sleep, then let out a loud, unladylike belch. She sloppily flopped onto her stomach and scratched her bum like a she-Neanderthal before letting out a huge snore and falling silent once again.

Jovie rolled her eyes and muttered, "Yeah, the girl's a princess among paupers…"

A dreamy look in his eye, Keith sighed and said, "I know, isn't she?"

Jovie gave him a skeptical look before shaking her head and walking off.

* * *

"Weeeeell, looks like Keith and Marilee are still in the Honeymoon Phase," Jovie told the viewing audience, looking slightly grossed out. "So, yeah… They've become _that _couple. You know, that fool couple that's all lovey dovey and they kiss every five seconds and you just wanna slap some sense into them?" She crossed her arms. "I'm just glad I'm not on the same team as them anymore so I don't have to see them suck face as much…"

* * *

Jovie stepped out of the Confession, humming a happy little song. She didn't expect Marilee, dressed and prettied up, to be standing outside, arms crossed and eyebrow raised. "That thing isn't sound-proof, you know."

Jovie's eyes widened slightly, and she looked upward. "Uh… Why, whatever do you mean, my dear friend Marilee?" she asked, trying to sound innocent.

The blonde's eyes narrowed. "I heard all the stuff you said about Keith and me… And I thought you were my friend!"

"I am!" Jovie said, looking even more nervous than before. "But can y'all honestly say I'm lyin'?"

"G-Get out of my way," Marilee grumpily told her, completely avoiding her question and pushing her aside. "I have stuff to vent about…" She stepped into the Confession Can and slammed the door.

* * *

"The nerve of that Jovie!" Marilee yelled, arms crossed angrily. "I heard everything she said! We're not some lovey dovey idiot couple!"

"Uh, yeah you are, girl," Jovie, still outside, said, almost afraid to admit it.

"Am not!" Marilee whined. "Nobody else thinks that!"

"Yes, they do!"

"What?" Marilee gasped. "They do _not_!"

"Oh, they don't, do they?"

"No!"

"Why don't you ask one of them, then?"

"Fine!"

"Good!"

"**GOOD**!"

* * *

Everybody had arrived to breakfast except Keith by now, poking at their lumpy meals with displeasure. Marilee was the last to sit down at the Ferret table. Slamming her tray down, she grumpily started eating her slop.

"Uh…" Selena, who she had taken a seat next to, could not help but notice Marilee's attitude. "Something on your mind?"

"Jovie said everybody is all grossed out by Keith and me," Marilee said, mouth full of mush. "Grossed out, can you believe it?" she asked, some of her mush oozing out of her mouth and dripping back into her bowl.

Selena cringed, looking a little greener than she did before. "Uh…"

"I mean, do we irritate _you_?" Marilee asked, wiping her mouth off with the napkin.

Selena looked up at the ceiling, thinking it over. "Weeeeell…"

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Marilee swallowed and gasped. "Oh, my gosh… You actually _do_ think that!"

"No, I don't," she lied, answering a little too quickly.

"Then why'd you have to think about it, huh?" Marilee crossed her arms and glared at her friend. "I can smell your lies…"

* * *

Selena looked around the outhouse, then sniffed her left pit for a split second. She sheepishly covered her underarms. "I guess I should wear stronger deodorant…"

* * *

"Well, it's just…" Selena looked down at her lap and admitted, "Seeing you guys sort of reminds me that Zack and I hardly got to spend any time together before we became… an item." She looked back up at her. "Do people still call couples 'items' or is that an old person thing?"

"Oh… Really?" Marilee frowned. "Sorry. I… I didn't really think about it like that."

"It'll probably be the same with DJ, now that he and Heather are an item… Wait, you never answered my question."

Once again, Marilee ignored her question. "Okay, you two and Jovie don't like Keith and I being so affectionate, but… Maybe the others don't feel that way."

"Oh, we do!" Courtney called out from the other table.

Marilee pouted and said, "Hey, I thought we were cool now!"

Courtney nodded. "Yes, we are 'cool,'" she told her, air quoting the last word, "but that doesn't mean I can't be honest…"

Marilee rolled her eyes and grumbled, "Okay, so _four _people think it! That doesn't mean-"

"Oh, it's not just them," Gwen piped up, LeShawna nodding soon after. "It's all of us."

"Oh, come on," Marilee laughed, rolling her eyes. "That's a _bit _of an exaggeration, don't you think?"

Gwen raised an eyebrow, then called out, "Well, _is_ it, everyone?"

A chorus of agreements with Gwen's first statement rung out from all the campers, sans Marilee. After it calmed down and was silent once more, Marilee stood up in a huff. "Okay, know what? You people can all go to-"

"Hey, everybody."

Every head turned to stare silently at Keith as he stood in the doorway of the mess hall, staring back at the faces blankly. After a moment, he scanned the room and asked, "What?" He subconsciously wiped his mouth off and asked, "Do I have something on my face?"

* * *

"Okay, so, like… _thirteen people _think that Keith and I showing our infatuation for each other is nauseating. Big whoop!" Marilee exclaimed. "I'm sure there are thirteen people out there somewhere in the world who think making out with giraffes is a-okay, but that doesn't make it true!" Her eyes widened and she cringed in disgust. "Ugh. Now I'm going to have that image stuck in my head all day…"

* * *

"Seriously, is calling a couple an item out of style?" Selena asked, frustrated that Marilee never answered her. "I want to know so I can sound as groovy as possible!"

* * *

*T*S*R*

It was time for the challenge to begin, so the campers were gathered by the campfire pit, waiting for Chris to announce the challenge to them.

Chris stood behind his oil drum podium, dressed in his pirate costume from last year. "Campers, you remember the Paintball Deer Hunt from last year, right? Today's challenge is loosely based on that…"

"How does that relate to you dressed up like Jack Sparrow?" Gwen asked, raising an eyebrow.

Chris snapped his fingers in her direction. "Arrg! Excellent question, Gwen. Today's paintball hunt is… Pirates versus Ninjas! The Fighting Ferrets will be playing the role of the Pirates while the Raving Ravens will be the ninjas."

"Well, that's not fair," Selena piped up, looking disappointed. "If they're the ninjas, then they'll obviously win!"

"I beg to differ," Cody said, crossing his arms. "Pirates were master fighters, especially with weaponry like guns. _We're_ the ones at a disadvantage here."

Selena stood up and rolled her eyes. "Please! Ninjas were way better fighters than pirates, 'cause they didn't need guns to fight people… Just a sword and a few other sharp things. And using those actually takes _skill_, while any moron could use a gun!"

"Pirates have way more skill than people give them credit for," Cody shot back. "And they're much more skilled with swords than ninjas!"

Selena stormed over to where he was standing and yelled, "At least ninjas aren't famous for scurvy!"

Cody glared at her and spat back, "At least pirates don't have a crappy anime!"

Selena gasped, shocked that he would even say such a thing. "Hey! Naruto is an awesome anime, you baka!"

* * *

"Uh…" Trent looked around confusedly for a moment, then back at the camera. "They _do_ realize they were sort of insulting themselves for a while there, right?"

* * *

Courtney shook her head, then rolled her eyes and said, "That conversation proves that the only thing stupider than an argument online is that same argument in _real_ life…"

* * *

"Hey, you two!" Chris yelled, snapping the two out of their battle. "You can finish your nerd war after I'm done explaining the challenge!" Once the two were calmed down and seated, he continued, "Anyway, it'll be your goal to shoot anyone from the opposite team. The team with the least people shot wins, and once you're shot, you're out!"

*T*S*R*

The competitors had gathered by the opening of the forest, where two boxes were sitting by Chris' feet.

Chris dug around in the first box, pulling out several black ninja masks with one hand and a few colorful shurikens . "Our ninja friends will be wearing these stylish masks and using these paint-filled… pointy… star… thingies…"

* * *

"The black mask must be slimming," Selena mused, tapping her chin and smirking. "Maybe it will make Courtney's big, fat head seem less big and fat…" She looked back at the camera and shrugged. "What? I've been trying to be nicer to her! What I say in here doesn't count! And we're not on the same team anymore, so it'll be easier to avoid her… I wonder if it would be mean if I stabbed her with my paint sword or whatever weapon we're getting…?"

* * *

"Won't those… hurt?" Jovie asked, worried.

"What? Oh, they're just paint balls _shaped_ like pointy star thingies, not actual metal ones," Chris explained, packing the last of the shurikens into the pouch of a belt for them to wear.

"Uh… Do you even know what those 'pointy star thingies' are called?" Gwen skeptically asked him.

Chris shook his head. "No, but that seems like a good name for it. I like it, at least…" He shrugged it off and continued, "Anyway, while you Raving Ninjas get geared up, you Fighting Pirates pay attention." He dug around in the second box, pulling out a pirate hat similar to his. "You guys get to wear these pimpin' pirate hats and eye patches!"

Duncan rolled his eyes and said, "You probably only think they look good because _you're_ wearing them.."

"That… is true," Chris said, not looking the least bit ashamed. "But, for some reason, we're short one eye patch. Do you still have yours handy, Marilee?" he jokingly asked.

A few of the campers laughed at the thought of her doing do, until she sheepishly reached into the pocket of her shorts and pulled the eye patch out. The laughter was replaced with silent, confused glances.

Chris hadn't actually expected her to have it, so he too look perplexed. "Uh… Why did you keep that thing? And why were you carrying it around with you?"

Marilee shrugged, placing the eye patch over her left eye. "Why _not_?"

"… Guess I can't argue with that logic," Chris mumbled, tossing her a hat. "I wouldn't even know where to start." Putting his signature grin back on, he continued, "And as for your weaponry, you'll get…" He reached into the box once more, pulling out what looked like a miniature pirate-aged cannon launcher. "These wicked sweet paint cannonball shooters!"

He pulled the fuse on it, launching a bright green paint ball out. Gwen and Courtney quickly ducked to avoid being hit, and the paint bomb splattered onto the tree behind them. "Hey!" Courtney yelled, straightening herself once more. "You can't do that to us!"

"Noooo… But _they_ can," Chris said, jerking a thumb toward the Fighting Pirates, who were suited up with their hats, eye patches and paint cannonball launchers. "Once you've got your gear on, you'll get a five minute head start to find a hiding spot in the woods. Get those masks and pointy star thingy-holding belts on and let's get started!"

* * *

Geoff adjusted his eye patch, then his pirate hat. He chuckled and said, "Dude, I am _digging_ this hat!"

* * *

Duncan grumpily adjusted his hat, fiddled with his eye patch and rested his chin in the palm of his hand. "Dude… Words cannot _describe_ how much I am not digging this get-up…"

* * *

"Look at this silly eye patch!" Selena said, pointing to her covered eye. "It will be super hard to aim and fire when half of my vision is gone!" She crossed her arms over her chest and said, "Ninjas don't wear eye patches, because they don't poke their eyes out with their weapons, because they're not **stupid**. See? Ninjas are _much_ cooler than pirates!"

* * *

"These shurikens are going to be hard to throw," Cody commented, looking over his weapons through the eye slit in his mask. "That's why pirates are so much better. They get stuff that's easy to shoot, like cannons and guns." He sighed and added, "Man, the Fighting Ferrets got lucky…"

* * *

"I can't believe we have to wear these wack masks," LeShawna, slightly muffled from her mouth being covered from the black material. "It's the middle of summer! We'll be sweatin' like dogs _and _stick out like sore thumbs!"

* * *

"This is the perfect challenge," Grace stated, arms folded smugly. Her smirk disappeared and she added, "Well, the hat and eye patch isn't… That part is dumb. But still, it'll give me the perfect opportunity to sneak off and put my plan into action…" She giggled evilly and then sighed with joy. "Aren't I smart? I'm already plotting at a fourth grade level!"

* * *

The Fighting Ferrets, temporarily the Fighting Pirates, had gotten a good head start away from the Raving Ravens, now the Raving Ninjas. Geoff stopped and turned around, facing his teammates. "Okay, dudes, I think we should split up."

"Good idea, Geoff," Marilee said, nodding in agreement. "There's power in numbers, but in this situation, it'd only make _them _more powerful… Okay, split!"

Most of the phony pirates raced off in different directions, but Marilee and Keith stayed put. Raising an amused eyebrow, Keith strolled over to his girlfriend and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Looks like it's just you and me, sweet thang. I saw a really comfy bush nearby, and I was thinking-"

"Keith, we have a challenge to do," Marilee strictly told him, slapping his arm away from her. "There's no time for that."

"What?" The skater looked crestfallen. Yesterday, she would have jumped on the chance in an instance! "Mar, what's wrong? Is it me? Do I smell weird?"

Marilee rolled her eyes, even though the eye patched one wasn't visible. "You smell fine. I'm… I'm just not in the mood."

"Why not?" Keith asked, repeatedly trying to put his arm back around her, but painfully failed each time. "Did something happen at breakfast? Everybody got real quiet when I walked in and I never found out why."

"I-It was nothing," she lied, looking down at her feet. "But we need to split up… The five minute head start should be over any second now…"

"Okay…" Keith gently grabbed her by her chin and titled her head so that she would look him in the eyes. "But you're still my widdle Mar-bear, right?" he asked her in a baby voice, giving her a smile.

She couldn't help but smile back. "Yes. And you're still my cuddly widdle puddin' pop…" She allowed herself to give him a small peck on the lips before running off to hide from the ninjas… and Keith.

* * *

"Honestly, Jovie and the others gave me sort of a wake-up call," Marilee admitted, looking sheepish. "I guess I was getting out of control with Keith. It's just he's a lot sweeter than I thought he was when we first got here… And his lips are so _sooooft_…" She traced the outline of her own lips, wishing her fingers were the tender lips of her favorite skater boy. "… Do you think it's too late to take Keith up on his offer with the comfy bush?"

* * *

"I-I've been a good boyfriend, haven't I?" Keith asked, looking rather worried. "I've made out with her, given her a goofy pet name… Uh… Made out with her…" He sighed. "But I'm good to her, right? I'm beyond nice to her, I never push her too far…" He scratched the back of his neck and asked, "What did I do wrong?"

* * *

*T*S*R*

On the other side of the forest, the Raving Ninjas were making their way through, already sweating from the masks.

"Ugh…" Gwen stretched her mask slightly, in order to cool off a bit. "Do we have to wear these things?"

"Chris never really specified, but I guess so," Candace said, fiddling with her weapon belt. "Unless you want to be disqualified, but you don't wanna do that, right?"

"With this heat, that's starting to not sound that bad…"

"You can't disqualify yourself!" Courtney told her. "We're already short by three people! We can't give the other team _more_ of an advantage!"

"Well, Zoey and Grace probably won't be that useful to them, so they don't really count," Cody pointed out.

"And Marilee and Keith will probably find themselves a comfy bush and play tonsil hockey the whole time," LeShawna commented, laughing slightly.

"Still, that doesn't mean we should just up and quit!" Courtney told them. "We're a team and we need to work together. That means _none_ of you are giving up!"

Jovie, who had looked rather stressed throughout their entire trek, finally stopped dead in her tracks, making the others stop and look back at her. "I don't think I can do this!"

Courtney, sounding exasperated, cried out, "Did you _not _just hear what I said?"

* * *

"Seriously, why don't more people listen to me?" Courtney asked, frustrated. "When I have a good idea, people just seem to think 'Oh, let's all ignore Courtney and give up like a big bunch of quitters!' I'm probably the most competent member of my team. I'm not saying I'm perfect…" She looked down at her lap and sheepishly admitted, "Even though I act it sometimes… But nonetheless, the others should take my winning strategies seriously! I was a CIT, for goodness sake!"

* * *

"This is _way _too violent!" Jovie said, almost sounding appaled by the thought of doing the challenge. "Fighting like a bunch of savages, that's what we'd be doing!"

"C'mon, Jov!" Candace said, walking up to her and patting her on the back. "This is all just pretend!"

"Still, what kind of example is this setting for the poor little kiddies who are gonna be watching this at home?" Jovie questioned. "It's stuff like this that makes kids so violent!"

"This isn't exactly a show for children young enough for this mild violence to be impressionable to them," Gwen pointed out. She tapped her chin with her finger, thinking something over. "And for those that age who _do_ watch this when it officially airs, they're probably going to stop after the one Owen got voted off of, because of the huge lacking in fart jokes after he was gone…"

"But this still goes against everything I stand for!" Jovie protested. "I just organized an anti-violence rally two months before coming here! How will doing something like _this_ make me look?"

LeShawna sighed, resting a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Baby girl, I know you're just trying to help… every_body_ and every_thing_, but you can't throw the challenge just to prove a point! Please, try being a little more open-minded, okay?"

Jovie looked hesitant at first, but sighed and said, "Okay…"

* * *

"Maybe my team's right," Jovie said, not looking the least bit happy. "Maybe I _do_ take things a bit too seriously. Like that time I stopped talking to Marilee for two days for not recycling her juice boxes… Or how I glare at people who eat meat products… But I came here to try new things and in order to do that, I'll have to be more open-minded. I can do this!" She paused, face-palmed and muttered, "I hope…"

* * *

Cody could smell her nervousness from a mile away, so he walked up to her and said, "Chill, Jovie! The Codemeister's got your back! Just stick with me and I'll make sure everything goes smoothly."

Jovie smiled, though it was clear she was still nervous. "Thanks, boy. Okay, let's go!"

*T*S*R*

Selena whistled quietly, strolling through the woods like there wasn't even a challenge going on. She was hunched over from carrying the heavy paintball cannonball shooter, but didn't look that pained. "So far, no awesome ninjas in sight. Guess I gotta find some sooner or later so I can shoot them with my big, dumb cannon…"

She heard some rustling from behind a nearby bush, so she quickly spun around and fired at will. Unfortunately, all she did was hit a tree and make a startled DJ scream and jump out from behind the bush, only to trip on his own feet.

"DJ?" She ran over and helped him up. "I'm sorry! I thought you would be one of the ninjas!"

DJ dusted himself off, the put the pirate hat that had fallen off back on. "That's alright. I was a little squeamish, anyway. I don't like sneaking around like this."

"Duncan and I do it a lot," Selena admitted, scuffing the ground with the tip of her black boots. "Duncan does it so he doesn't get arrested, but I just do it 'cause I like to." She got a mischievous look on her face and added, "Once while I was lurking around, I overheard my uncle Scott and aunt Laura talking about what they got Duncan for Christmas, and he gave me ten bucks to tell me whether they got him something lame or not! I spent the money on candy canes and a light up Rudolph nose!"

"Uh…" DJ scratched the back of his head. "That's… cool."

* * *

"Y'know, Selena reminds me of Izzy sometimes," DJ said. "Except she isn't completely insane… And she isn't on the run from the RCMP… Or is she?" DJ scratched his chin. "With Duncan as a role model, anything could be possible…"

* * *

"Hey, are you okay?" Selena asked out of the blue. "Y'know, after the whole Heather thing?" The two started walking and she added, "I felt sort of crummy after what happened with Zack… But then again, Heather's elimination wasn't your fault…" She looked down at her feet, suddenly crestfallen.

"It wasn't your fault, either!" DJ assured her, patting her on her petite shoulder. "Besides, I don't think Zack really cared about the money. He just seemed like he was there to play the game and have a good time."

Selena nodded, looking a little less sad. "That's true. And I'll bet he's enjoying Playa de Losers. And Heather probably is, too."

DJ nodded, remembering that. "Yeah, I'll bet she is… I just wish I could be there with her…"

Before either could add anything else, Selena noticed something high up in one of the trees and stopped, DJ stopping soon after. "Deej, look!" She pointed to one branch in particular and cooed, "Those squirrels are wrestling! How cute!"

DJ finally found what Selena was looking at, and his jaw dropped immediately. "Uh, Selena… They aren't wrestling."

She cocked her head to the side, giving him a look of pure innocence. "What are they doing, then?" She looked back up at the creatures and squinted her eyes. "Are they playing leap frog? If they are, that squirrel on the top isn't doing that good of a job."

DJ, too embarrassed to explain to her what was going on, shielded her eyes with his hand and gently shoved her so she would keep walking. "Ask somebody else later…"

* * *

"I can't believe those squirrels!" DJ exclaimed, sounding both disgusted and embarrassed. "Just doing…. _that_ out in broad daylight! Have they no shame?"

* * *

Selena and DJ kept walking until DJ had to make a quick pit stop, leaving the teen girl to sit on an abandoned rock, and hum a small tune. She hear some more rustling from the nearby vegetation, so she quickly sprung up and shot her paint cannonball launcher at random places. She didn't get a ninja, but she managed to hit some trees, the ground, and one of the naughty squirrels. That still didn't make either of them stop 'wrestling.' "Fudge!" Selena whispered to herself, throwing her shooter on the ground childishly. "I have such suckish aim!"

Almost immediately after saying that, out popped Gwen, her eyes widening in shock after seeing her brother's new girlfriend. Her onyx orbs quickly narrowed and she hissed, "_You_…"

* * *

"I think Gwen's still mad at me," Selena said, looking a little worried. "I didn't mean to make Zack snap and have everyone get mad at him and vote him off! If I could change that, I would in a heartbeat!" She sighed, resting her chin in her palm. "Why can't my boyfriend's sister just realize I'm not perfect and try to get along with me?"

"That sounds like something Courtney would be saying about you," Jovie piped from outside.

"Stop trying to be a peace maker, Jovie!" Selena whined. "It's different with me and Courtney!"

"Really? How so?"

"…" She lifted her pirate hat up so she could scratch her head and said, "Uh… Because… I'm _awesome_."

"That's not exactly the most valid argument," Cody said, also outside the confession can.

"… Your mom's not a valid argument!" Selena lamely replied.

* * *

"That was probably the worst comeback ever," Jovie commented, Cody seated next to her in the outhouse.

He nodded in agreement. "Yeah, but it's nice of you to try and help Marilee and Selena." He sheepishly shrugged. "Too bad they're both too stubborn to listen…"

Jovie grinned and shrugged. "Marilee seemed to follow my advice after it sunk in a while. Maybe Selena will, too… Wait, why are you in here with me again?"

"It's hard to talk to people through these thick wooden walls," Cody said, knocking on the wall next to him. "But it's sort of crowded in here with the both of us…"

Jovie's brows knitted together and she snapped, "Is that a crack at my bodacious booty?"

"What, no!" Cody exclaimed, flustered. "I-I just meant-"

"Ha ha, I'm just teasin' with you, boy," Jovie said, playfully nudging him.

* * *

Selena grabbed her cannonball shooter again and tried to look threatening. "I'm warning you! I've got this cannon shooting thingamabob, and I'm not afraid to use it! … As you can tell," she finished, quickly glancing at the many splats of paint around them.

"Oooh, scary!" Gwen mockingly said, waving her hands in phony fear. She placed her hands on her hips and glared at Selena once more. "And why are you just sitting here? Shouldn't you be off taking advantage of people and getting them kicked off the island?"

"I didn't mean to get Zack voted off!" Selena exclaimed. "I really did like him! I'd trade places with him if I could!"

"Then why don't you?" the Goth snapped. "He was much more useful than you were, anyways!"

Selena held back a small whimper, suddenly getting angry, and she finally took another shot, which Gwen quickly dodged by falling to her knees. The Goth quickly got back on her feet and jerked the pouch of her utility belt open, attempting to yank one of her paint shurikens out. However, she ended up yanking them all out and they splattered by her feet in a big, colorful mess.

"Stupid, crappy paintballs!" Gwen hissed angrily. She looked back up at Selena, who was smirking widely.

The blonde cocked her cannonball shooter at her, a look of determination in her eyes. "When you're off the island, tell Zack I'm sorry."

Gwen, wide-eyed, ran off with Selena not far behind. DJ finally came back, only to be passed up by the two, who were both screaming at the top of their lungs. The Jamaican Canadian blinked, then asked himself, "How long was I gone?"

* * *

"Okay, so in retrospect, ticking off a member of the other team with a fully loaded gun probably wasn't my smartest move, "Gwen mused, yanking on her mask in discomfort. "But Selena seriously creases me, so I couldn't help it. I don't know what my brother sees in her… Still, I probably could have played that interaction a little better…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Grace made sure nobody, especially not a cameraman, was around, then threw her eye patch and hat on the ground. Once that was done, she walked through the bushes, right into the secret production campgrounds. "Secret, my butt," Grace muttered. "A three year old found this place without even trying…"

She wandered toward the main building, seeing nobody so far. Once she stepped inside, she noticed Mia laying on the couch in the lounge, texting away on her cell phone. Grace walked over to her, but Mia did not notice her due to her height. "Hey!" she harshly yelled at her.

Mia looked down to see the three year old and raised an eyebrow. "What the heck are you doing here? Isn't the stupid challenge going on right now?"

"I don't have time for an interrogation," Grace bluntly said, sounding far too serious for her age. She crawled onto the couch next to her, placing her hands in her lap. "I saw something yesterday that caught my interest…"

Once again, Mia raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? And this concerns me… how?"

"You ask too many questions." Grace pulled a video camera from behind her back, only making Mia even more confused.

"Why do you have a camcorder? And how'd you just pull it out from behind your back like that? Your skirt doesn't have any pockets…"

Grace rolled her eyes. "What did I just say about questions?"

She turned the device on, tilting the screen so Mia could see. The shot was of the ground at first, but eventually panned to Mia. It was clear that it was filmed during yesterday's challenge, since you could see the hole Heather and Gwen failed at. The camera shook a great amount, but you could still see Mia walk out from behind a tree and hand Heather a maroon golf ball, who seemed to have lost her original ball. She nodded gratefully at her step-sister and walked toward the beginning of the hole. Mia walked back behind the tree, but stuck out enough so that Grace had still been able to film her. She pulled a remote control out of her dress pocket, grabbed the joystick, and grinned spitefully. Just as Heather hit the ball and it made its way onto the bridge above the small body of water that was meant to be the obstacle, Mia jerked the joystick roughly to the right. The ball flew off the edge of the bridge and into the water, ultimately leading to Heather's defeat.

Mia, mouth gaping in shock, glared down at Grace. "Okay, so you got that on camera. Big deal! Why do you care?"

"Why did you want Heather to lose?" Grace asked, a serious look still on her face. "Because you knew that if she won for the entire season, she wouldn't share any of her money with you?"

"It was in the stupid contract!" Mia snapped, crossing her arms. "Apparently, step-siblings don't count as real siblings in Chris' eyes, so I wasn't even given a chance! I would have been the only one in our family who had a chance, anyway. Heather lost any chance of making it once she turned into a spineless loser!"

Grace nodded in understanding. "I see… So you couldn't stand to let her have something you thought she didn't deserve, am I right?"

"Well… yes," Mia said, shocked at Grace's intellect.

Grace shook her head and muttered, "People always underestimate me…" She looked back up at her and continued, "You knew that Chris picked the teams by the losers from every other hole. The ones who lost at the odd numbered holes would be on the winning team and the ones who lost on the even numbered holes would wind up on the losing team, so you made Heather lose on an even numbered hole! You knew that since she'd be the least popular member of her new team, she'd most likely be voted off!"

"Yes, okay!" Mia yelled. "Tell me what this has to do with you at all before I toss you into the piranha pool!"

"Oh, I wouldn't want to do that if I was you…" Grace smirked and sat the camera down between them. "Because I'm gonna show Chris this video."

Mia gasped once again and quickly snatched the camera away. She ripped the DVD out and snapped it in half with her hand, then cockily grinned back down at her.

Grace shrugged nonchalantly. "That's okay. I made copies."

Mia's smirk disappeared. "Fine. Go ahead and show him! I already got Heather kicked off, and that was the only reason I signed up to be a stupid intern in the first place."

"Don't be so quick to defend yourself, Mia," Grace said, crossing her arms smugly. "You haven't even heard my proposition yet."

"Proposition?" Mia scoffed and said, "Fine, I'll humor you. Tell me about your cute little proposition."

Grace frowned at Mia's mocking tone and told her, "You help me out a little bit, and _when_ Trent and I win, I'll split my half of the five hundred thousand dollars with you." Mia's eyes widened. That proposition was not so little or so cute. It _was_ too good to pass up, that's for sure. "_But_, if you don't do what I say, I'll show Chris the tape, you get fired, _and_ you get nothing!"

Mia stared at her for a moment, then looked up toward the ceiling in thought. Either work a little and get a lot or sit back and get nothing? Hey, she hated work, but she loved money more! Still, being a little girl's lackey? That would be pretty pathetic…

"You've piqued my interest. What would I have to do, exactly?"

Grace waved a hand, like it would be nothing. "Oh, nothing much. Just help me with a few challenges. Maybe give my team- or just me and Trent- an advantage. You'll barely have to do anything." She extended her small hand toward the older girl and asked, "Deal?"

Mia thought it over for several more seconds, then devilishly grinned and grabbed Grace's hand, giving it a good shake. "Deal."

* * *

"I have a good feeling about this alliance," Grace told the camera, grinning an evil grin. "I've lulled everybody into a false sense of security, so nobody would expect it. I've stood aside quietly and they've all assumed I was just being a brat early on, so they've basically forgotten about me. They'll never see it coming!" Her eyes narrowed spitefully. "That idiot Gwen should be gone by this time next week, and when this dumb show's finally over, we'll be the winners!" She crossed her arms and added, "And I didn't really make copies of the DVD." She chuckled. "Oh, Mia's more gullible than you'd think…"

* * *

"That kid is a total brat!" Mia fumed angrily, fists clenched tightly. After a few seconds, her anger faltered. "But I guess I was worse when I was her age… But not nearly as verbose. Did you hear her talk? What three year old do you know that talks like that? …Still, this is too good of an offer to pass up. Twenty five thousand dollars can buy a _lot_ of shoes." She smirked and added, "This is the start of a beautiful alliance…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Smack in the middle of the forest, Candace was walking along, happy as she could be. But, of course, that wasn't saying much with her. She was singing a Lady Gaga song to herself, hoping no one was around to hear her less than perfect voice. "_Let's have some fun, this beat is sick! I wanna take a ride on your disco_-"

She suddenly got a huge pain in her head, and stopped walking to rub her temples. "Owie!" She leaned on a strong oak tree for a moment, still rubbing her head. "I feel weakish…" She thought over what she had done today, trying to think if she had done anything differently than she usually did. Something must have been done differently in order for her to feel this bad this quickly! She had eaten breakfast, she took a shower, and she did everything she normally did in the morning. Still, she couldn't help but feel like something was slipping her mind…

"Maybe I should have taken some ibuprofen before coming out here…" At the mention of the word 'take', Candace immediately straightened herself up, brown eyes wide. A very bad word slipped from her lips and she quickly dug around in her pocket, pulling out a small medical device. "No, no, no! How could I forget to take it? I _never_ forget!"

She put the glucometer up to her finger, letting the lancet prick her finger. She barely felt the pain, having done it so many times before… She waited for the results, blanching when she received them. "Oh, God… My blood sugar's getting pretty low…"

The usually chipper girl was starting to feel even weaker, so she slid down to take a seat by the tree. "M-Maybe somebody will come by," she told herself, a small, optimistic smile on her face. "This forest isn't that big! I'll just rest myself up for now, and if nobody comes, I'll hopefully have enough energy to make it back to camp to take my shot…"

She leaned her head against the tree trunk and as the minutes passed, the bright side of things were quickly fading on her, which they rarely did. Wrapping her arms around herself, like she was giving herself a little hug, Candace quietly muttered, "_Stupid diabetes_…"

* * *

**AAAHHH!**

**WHAT'S WITH ALL THE CLIFFHANGERS, KELSEY?**

…

I dunno. Cliffhangers are _fuuuuuun_.

But what's in store for our beloved campers? What will become of Keith and Marilee? Will Grace and Mia's alliance last more than one episode? Will Selena shoot Gwen? Will those squirrels ever finish their sexy game of leap frog? Why are we _just now _hearing about Candace's diabetes? (There actually is a reason I waited so long to reveal that last part. This is one of the rare things that I didn't come up with ten minutes before writing the chapter…)

Find out next time on Total! Sibling! Rivalry!

PS- Thanks to Ironbloodaika for the challenge idea! You rock, Clark! :D


	38. Day 16, Part 2: Ninjas and Pirates Unite

Geoff made his way through a cluster of Douglas firs, looking around to see if there was any danger of ninjas nearby. Luckily there weren't, so he continued on. He couldn't help but notice Keith sitting on a nearby boulder, looking rather gloom. "Dude, what up?" Geoff poked him in the shoulder, but he didn't even blink. "You bag any ninjas yet?"

"What?" Keith looked up at Geoff, like he was just realizing that he was there. "Oh. No." He rested his chin in his palm and added, "I haven't even seen anyone from the other team yet. But that's not what's up… You probably don't wanna hear about it."

Geoff shrugged, leaning against the tree directly next to Keith's boulder. "Nah, it's cool. Lay it on me, man."

Keith twiddled his thumbs awkwardly, then sighed and said, "Well, Marilee's been acting kind of weird lately. Like, she refused to go with me to this bush and ne-"

"AAAAH, OKAY, YOU WERE RIGHT!" Geoff screamed, slapping his hands over his ears. "I don't wanna hear about it! LA LA LA, I CAN'T HEAR YOU-"

"Okay, I get it," Keith interrupted, not looking amused. "But you've been around, right? Have I done anything wrong? What should I do to fix stuff between us?"

The party boy raised an eyebrow. "Dude, I'm not helping you slide into second base with my sister."

Keith's brows knitted together and he asked, "Geoff, do you seriously think I'm some desperate pervert?" He thought over what he said for a moment, then added, "_That _much of a desperate pervert? I just want her to stop avoiding me! Help me!"

"Chill!" Geoff crossed his arms casually and shrugged. "I'm not the best guy to go to for relationship advice after the whole Bridgette thing, but I know my sister. What you should do is… leave her alone for a while."

"What? But-"

"No, no, hear me out here," Geoff interrupted, uncrossing his arms and holding a hand up. "You know how Mar is. One second, she can be all, like, cuddly and nice, and the next, she'll kick you where the sun don't shine if you even touch her."

Keith nodded. That _was_ true…

"When she's in the second mood, just _run_, man!" Geoff warned him. "Unless you want a broken arm, don't try to hug her or talk to her or even _look_ at her funny! Just give her some room and she'll be back to herself pretty soon."

"Wait…" Keith nervously scratched the back of his neck. "S-She broke your arm once?"

Geoff frowned, but shook his head. "No, but she did to somebody else a few years back…" He looked downward and muttered, "We don't really visit Grandpa Edgar anymore…"

"Uh… Yeah…" Keith tried not to look freaked out, but failed miserably. "So you seriously think I should just ignore her?"

Geoff shrugged. "I paid too much attention to Bridge and look how that turned out."

Keith tapped his chin. "Good point. Thanks, Geoff! Y'know, you're a better team captain than I thought you'd be."

"I know," Geoff said with a smug smirk before walking off to find some ninjas.

*T*S*R*

Cody and Jovie had been walking for a while, not seeing anybody that they could shoot, so they had mostly been talking. "So what'd you do after you left the island?" Jovie asked him.

Cody shrugged. "Nothing special. Went to school, hung out with my friends from the tech club… Oh, Beth and I dated for a few days."

"Beth from TDI?" Jovie grinned. "That's cool. What happened?"

"Well, I went to her place to meet her parents… And my uncle answered the door," he awkwardly answered.

Jovie cringed. "Ooooh, that's _way _awkward. How could you two not know you were cousins?"

"We're distant cousins… The only reason Uncle Roy recognized me was from the picture on the Christmas card my parents sent him…"

"You guys never kissed or anything, did you?"

"Thankfully, no… We haven't really talked since."

"I'm sorry," she said, looking saddened. "I hope you find your girl soon."

Cody grinned at her. "Thanks."

After thinking over what she had said for a second, Jovie gave him the stink eye and said, "And that ain't me giving you permission to hit on me relentlessly, by the way."

Cody, looking a little shocked, said, "Oh, I wouldn't do that. I just-"

Jovie's eyes narrowed and she half-yelled, "So what, I ain't pretty enough for you?"

"What?" Cody gasped, nervously trying to save his butt. "N-No! I just meant I like you as a friend and-"

"Y'know, it's really fun seeing you all squeamish," Jovie commented, giggling and crossing her arms.

Cody glared at her, but couldn't help the small smile that crept on his face. "Oh, yeah. I've still got to get used to your sense of humor… For somebody who cares about so many causes, you sure like torturing people."

Jovie shrugged. "I'm a complex lady."

Before she could add anything else, Cody held up a hand, signaling her not to talk. "Did you hear something?" he whispered.

"I think so… It's hard to hear anything through these dang masks, but it sounded like it came from over there," she quietly said, pointing to her left.

Cody pulled a paint shuriken out of his utility belt, a look of determination in his eyes. "Let's do this…"

*T*S*R*

Peering around suspiciously, Courtney walked past a large clump of trees. She hadn't seen anyone yet, not even anyone from her team since they split up. There had to be somebody around by this point. She had been walking for what felt like _forever_ now!

Out of the blue, she heard strange, faint noises. It sounded like… panting?

"Hello?" Courtney called out, looking suspicious. "Duncan, is that you?" Her brows furrowed as she continued walking, placing her hands on her hips. "If it is, stop trying to freak me out!"

"Courtney?" a small voice weakly called out.

"Huh? _Candace_?" Courtney heard the voice from behind a nearby tree. She quickly walked over to it, gasping and bringing a hand to her mouth when she wandered over to the other side.

Candace had managed to keep herself propped up against the tree, but other than that, she looked like a wreck. She was covered in sweat, both from the hypoglycemia and the intense heat. She was shaking, not to mention how extremely weak she looked.

"What on earth happened to you?" Courtney helped her to her feet, only making her shake more.

"I-I-I don't feel g-good," Candace quietly answered, trying to keep herself balanced.

"Well, obviously!" Courtney stated. "But _why_? Did something happen?" Before she could answer, the former CIT shook her head and said, "Never mind, that isn't important right now. We just need to get you back to camp." As she tried to help Candace along, the cheerleader stumbled and almost fell, but Courtney clumsily caught her. "Whoa!" Courtney squealed, lifting her up to keep her from falling flat on her face. "Okay, this is serious! Do you have any idea what caused you to get so sick?"

Using Courtney as support to stand up, Candace looked down at her feet and muttered, "I-I don't know…" As the two tried to keep walking, something slipped out of Candace's pocket and onto the grassy ground. She squealed in fright and tried to bend over to pick it up, but ended up falling on her butt.

"What's this?" Courtney picked the glucometer before Candace could snatch it. After inspecting it for a second, Courtney's eyes widened and she said, "A glucometer? You'd only have one of these if…" She looked down at Candace, who managed to sit back up and was looking down at her lap, knowing she was caught. "Candace… You have _diabetes_? No wonder you're so sick! Why didn't you-" She interrupted herself, knowing there was no time to stop and ask questions, so she simply helped her up and propped her up as they kept walking.

*T*S*R*

The chase between Selena and Gwen had gone on for quite a while, though neither were willing to give up. Selena had taken a few shots while on the prowl, but had failed to hit her. Still, even that couldn't make her quit.

Gwen found that she had reached the edge of the woods, right around where the cabins were. She looked around for a moment, not seeing any signs of Selena, so she stopped for a moment. She sat down a few feet away from a tree, panting heavily and wiping her sweaty forehead off with her sleeve.

Just as she was rested and about to get back up, Selena jumped down from the tree, landing at the base of it. Startled, Gwen let out a yelp and asked, "How the heck did you get up there?"

"I don't think that's really important right now," Selena commented, cocking her cannonball launcher at the sitting Goth. "Any last wishes?"

"World peace," Gwen muttered, sounding both sarcastic and ready to give up. Selena _did_ sort of have her… "Just get it over with…"

"As you wish…" She tugged on the fuse of the weapon, but nothing happened. Un-patched eye widening, she tugged on it several times, but nothing shot out of it once more. "Uh…" She giggled nervously and muttered, "I think I ran out of paint balls… Tee hee, this is awkward…"

Gwen, however, was not laughing. She got to her feet, her glare dead-set on the teal-eyed girl.

"Hee hee hee… Uh…" As Gwen walked closer to her, Selena backed farther away until she hit the tree with her back. "Hey… No hard feelings, right? …Gwen?"

**Five minutes later…**

Gwen walked away from the tree, dusting her hands off and beaming with success. "Have fun, Selena," she called out from over her shoulder.

"Gweeeeeen!" Selena whined, off-screen at an unknown location. "C'mon, you can't leave me like this! _Get baaaack here_!" Once it was clear that Gwen wouldn't come back, Selena sighed, and the camera panned to a branch on the tree. Apparently, Gwen had hung Selena on said branch by her bra straps, making it nearly impossible to get down.

* * *

"Okay," Selena started, frowning. "I guess I sort of deserved that. I really should be trying not to make any enemies…" She rubbed her shoulders, cringing at the memory of her punishment. "That was my favorite bra, too…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Marilee, looking both bored and frustrated, was walking along when her cell phone suddenly rang. She swiped it out of her pocket, flipped it open and asked, "Hello? … Cheyenne? Hi!" She beamed and continued, "It is sooo good to hear you voice! I swear, I'm going to go insane on this stupid island!"

"_Island? What are you talking about_?" the high pitched voice presumed to be Cheyenne asked on the other end of the phone. "_Are you on vacation or something_?"

Marilee blinked and stopped walking. "I'm competing in the second season of Total Drama Island, Chey. I told you, like, a week before I left."

"_Oh yeah… I thought you were joking_."

She rolled her eyes. "Like I would really joke about this kind of torture. I can't really say much about the morons here, since it might violate my contract. I might be pushing it just saying I dislike most of these people… So how are things back home?"

"_Pretty good_," Cheyenne told her. "_I went by your house to see if you wanted to hang out, but you weren't there. 'Cause, you know… But when I answered the door, some guy around your mom's age answered the door_."

After hearing that, Marilee almost dropped her phone. "What? What did he look like? Half-glasses? Slicked back black hair? Probably wearing some lame sweater?"

"… _I thought his sweater was pretty chic, but yeah, pretty much. Have you met him before?"_

Face palming, Marilee muttered, "That's Vince… My mom's dumb new boyfriend. I can't she actually brought him home with her!"

"_I didn't know she had a boyfriend_!"

"Yeah, it's sort of a recent thing… I haven't actually met him yet. Hey, what is he like? Was he an evil, maniacal dictator?"

"… _If by that, you mean a mild-mannered accountant, then yes_." Cheyenne sighed and said, "_Mari, you're usually the sane one in this friendship. Don't make me be the voice of reason here! You should give him a chance before judging him…. GAH, YOU MADE ME BE THE VOICE OF REASON!_"

The blonde cringed at her friend's sudden yelling, then rolled her eyes and groaned, "Fiiiiine, I'll give the turd a chance! Look, I gotta go. In the middle of a challenge and I could get shot any second now."

"Wait, what?"

"Oops, said too much," Marilee muttered, slapping a hand over her mouth momentarily. After uncovering her lips, she quickly said, "Toodles!" and snapped her phone shut. Once it was tucked in her pocket again, she looked around to make sure nobody was around to throw any paint-filled weaponry at her. It looked clear, so she kept trekking through until she bumped into Keith a few moments later. "Hi," she greeted, smiling slightly.

Keith's eyes widened, resembling a deer caught in the headlights. "Uh…" After a few seconds of awkward silence, he ran off in the opposite direction at high speed.

* * *

"I wanted to do more than make out with Keith, but I didn't want him to run away from me in terror!" Marilee said, looking confused and slightly hurt. "Was I too hard on him? I didn't want to push him away… At least, not _completely_…"

* * *

"I know Geoff told me to try and avoid her for a while," Keith started, rubbing the back of his neck and looking regretful, "but that _might _have been going a bit too far…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

"Why do I have to shoot for you?" Mia complained, lugging Grace's cannon launcher around while Grace, wearing her pirate garb once again, walked shortly behind her.

"Because you're most likely a better shot than I am," Grace explained, straightening her pirate hat. "And I just don't wanna."

"Do I look like somebody who's played paintball before?" Mia huffily asked, eyes narrowing. "The only kind of freak who would actually _enjoy _something like this is white trash and the mentally retarded!"

"Yeah yeah, quit complaining and start finding some ninjas, slave," Grace ordered as she crossed her arms, sounding unimpressed with Mia's complaints.

Mia grumbled quietly to herself, but continued walking. She wanted her money…

*T*S*R*

Courtney, who was still struggling to keep Candace upright, continued to try to find her way back to camp. "We have to be close!" Courtney said, more herself than the groggy Candace. "We've been walking for a while now."

"We've only been walking for… a few minutes," Candace panted, wiping her forehead off with her arm and looking over her shoulder. "I can… still see my tree…"

"Quit complaining! I'm doing the best I can!" Courtney snapped, momentarily forgetting the situation. Once realizing what she just said, she cringed and muttered, "Oops… Sorry."

"It's… cool," Candace panted, a small smile slipping onto her face. "This isn't that fun for me, either…"

"How could Chris be so totally irresponsible and just send you out her before you could take any insulin?" Courtney asked, her anger transferring to Chris. "Seriously, you should suehim for this!"

Candace weakly shrugged and panted, "I don't see… what good… it would do."

"Are you serious? Why not?" Courtney asked, flabbergasted.

Taking a chance to catch her breath so she wouldn't pant, Candace quietly said, "I'll be fine, once I get my insulin shot and rest a little bit. It's no big deal…"

"No. Big. DEAL?" Courtney screeched, making the cheerleader flinch and making several birds fly away in fear. "You could have _died _if you had stayed out there much longer and it's _no big deal_?" After calming down for a moment and shaking her head, Courtney continued to help her along and added, "I swear, you're too nice for your own good sometimes."

"And you're nicer than people give you credit for," Candace muttered, another small smirk creeping onto her lips.

*T*S*R*

Marilee, who had yet to even see a ninja, was starting to get impatient. "C'mon, this forest isn't _that_ big!" She continued to look around, and she finally found someone. And, of course, it wasn't a ninja. It was Keith again.

* * *

"I think I was too harsh on Keith before," Marilee admitted, tapping her chin. "That might be why he ran away from me before. I think I need to have a little talk with him…"

* * *

Keith was crouched behind a bush, aiming to take fire. Using great stealth, Marilee snuck behind him without him even noticing her presence. She looked at the area he was aiming at, then whispered, "I don't see any-" She was interrupted by his loud shriek, along with him falling into the bush. "Keith!" She quickly helped him out, straightening his pirate hat and pulling a few leaves out of his hair. "Sorry, I thought you would know it was me."

"I did," Keith muttered as he dusted himself off, so quietly that Marilee didn't even catch it.

"Can we talk?" Marilee asked him gently, looking nervous.

He knew she was hardly ever nervous, so he temporarily forgot Geoff's advice and said, "Sure. Lay it on me."

"I just wanted to apologize for this morning," she started, crossing her arms, "because I don't think I worded what I wanted to say right… Which is why you probably ran away."

"Well, that's one reason," Keith muttered, but this time, Marilee heard him.

"Um, pardon?" Marilee asked, raising an eyebrow.

Before Keith could explain himself, a blur of purple hit the skater boy, knocking him completely over. "AH!" he yelled once he saw the splat on his shirt. "Where the heck did that come from?" He waited for an answer from his girlfriend, but he got nothing. "Mar?" He looked up. Marilee has split right after he had been hit with the shuriken. "Thanks a lot, sweetie," Keith sarcastically mumbled.

Meanwhile Jovie and Cody, who were squatting from behind a big oak tree by Keith, gave each other a high five. "Nice aim, Jov!" Cody said, giving her a thumbs up and a grin.

"What can I say?" Jovie said, grinning proudly. "It's the peaceful ones you gotta look out for!"

*T*S*R*

After looking around for a while, Geoff was getting ready to give up. He saw LeShawna a while back, but she had been too quick for him. Other than that, Geoff hadn't seen anyone on the other team to shoot. Not that he was worried. He was sure somebody on his team had shot somebody by this point…

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Courtney helping along a weak-looking Candace. "Whoa, what happened?" he asked, running up to them.

Courtney gasped and quickly hid Candace behind her back. "Geoff, don't you dare shoot us!"

"I'm not going to," Geoff said, walking behind her so he could take a look at the shaky, sweating Candace. "Candy, what's wrong?"

"N-Nothing," Candace lied. "I'm cool…" She tried walking by herself, but quickly lost her footing. Luckily, Geoff caught her before she could fall on the ground.

"You sure don't _look _fine!" Knowing Candace wasn't going to answer, he turned to Courtney and asked, "What's going on?"

"Candace is going through hypoglycemia," Courtney explained, removing her mask so Candace could use it to blot her sweat. When she saw the completely blank look on Geoff's face, she decided to phrase it differently. "She has diabetes and she needs insulin." He didn't even blink. Sighing, she put it as easily as she possibly could. "Candace needs a cupcake and a nap."

"OH!" Geoff's blank expression disappeared, and he smiled in understanding and nodded. "Why didn't you just say so?"

* * *

Courtney opened her mouth like she was ready to say something, but shut her mouth quickly. She merely brought a hand to her forehead and shook her head in frustration.

* * *

"Here, lemme help," Geoff offered, lifting Candace into his arms bridal-style. "Which way to camp?"

"This way," Courtney told him, pointing to the north. Geoff started walking in said direction, Courtney following behind him.

*T*S*R*

"Do you see anybody yet?" Grace asked Mia, picking a few berries off a bush she walked by.

"If I had, don't you think I would have fired the stupid thing off?" Mia bitterly replied, still looking around.

"Stop yelling at me!" Grace screamed, mouth full of fruit. "You aren't getting any money if you're going to be a jerk!"

The older girl huffed and kept going, Grace following behind her.

* * *

"On second thought," Mia began, arms crossed tightly in anger, "I'm starting to think the money isn't going to be worth this…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

"I think we're getting close to camp," Courtney mused, squinting her eyes to focus on the area far ahead of them.

It looked like Candace was starting to lull herself to sleep, but before she could doze off, Geoff asked, "Wait, how can you have dialysis? I've seen you eat stuff with sugar in it before."

"First of all," Courtney began, holding up a hand to Candace and her opened mouth, "it's _diabetes_. And secondly, she obviously has type one, which is different than type two, which is what you're thinking of. Those with type one diabetes can still eat sugary stuff, but they have to take insulin daily and keep a healthy, balanced diet as well." When she saw Geoff and Candace's confused glances, obviously wondering how she knew so much about the subject, she added, "I did a report on type one for Health class last year."

"Oooooooh," both simultaneously mumbled, nodding.

"But I have a question for you too, Candace," Courtney told her. "Why wouldn't you tell either me or Geoff what was wrong?"

Geoff nodded and asked, "And why haven't you ever tell me you have diarrhea?"

"_**DIABETES**_," Courtney loudly and bitterly reminded him.

"WHATEVEEEEER," Geoff whined, annoyed. He coughed a little and added, "I thought we were tight, Candace! Why would you lie to me?"

"Technically, I didn't lie," Candace nervously said, no longer panting now that she didn't have to walk. "If you had flat out asked, "Yo, Candy, do you have diabetes?'" she said, trying to impersonate him by deepening her voice so she could sound as masculine as possible, "then I would have said yes…"

Geoff thought it over for a second, then asked, "Do I really sound that weird?"

Candace smiled a little and shook her head. "Nah. That's just my generic guy voice… But it's not like you guys are the only ones who I didn't tell. The only two who have been on the show who really know are Chef and Owen. Owen because, well, he's my brother, and Chef because he's the camp nurse and provides the needles and insulin and stuff."

"Why would you keep it a secret, though?" Courtney asked, looking slightly miffed. "As your co-captain, it would have been a useful thing to know! Why would you try and hide something _that_ important?"

"You guys ask a lot of questions, you know that?" Candace muttered, the small smile still on her face. After letting out a little sigh, she wrapped her arms around Geoff's neck to make herself more comfortable and looked down at her lap. "I didn't want everybody to think of me as the sick girl," she confessed, her grin disappearing. "I didn't want some people to treat me different than the others or say I couldn't do certain things or give me this 'oh, you poor little diabetic thing' look…"

Courtney's expression softened. "Oh. I guess I'm starting to see where you were coming from…"

"I mean, I may have a medical condition, but I'm not like _deadly ill_. Still, some people back home treat me like that, and I wanted things to be different." Both nodded in agreement with her and she continued, "I eat a balanced diet, if you call Chef's meals balanced… And I exercise, take insulin daily, all the stuff diabetics are supposed to do. I'm fine, but some people still treat me like this fragile… fragile thing."

The three were silent for a moment, unsure what else they could add to that. After a few more beats of silence, Geoff smiled and piped up, "Well, if anybody here would have thought that, you definitely proved them wrong."

"Some people wouldn't think you were a threat," Courtney admitted, "but hey, you've even proved me wrong."

Candace looked at them both, grinning once more. "Really? You guys think so?" She suddenly looked confused, but still smiled, then asked, "Wait, a threat? What do you mean by that?"

"Well, most people would think you were easily manipulated, because you're a very trusting person, but you're more than that," Courtney explained.

"Court's right," Geoff piped up. "You're sweet, and caring, and smart, and loyal… and beautiful…" He started drifting off when his blue eyes met her dark brown ones. Their gazes locked for a moment and Geoff stopped walking immediately. A heavenly music started to play from somewhere and the two continued staring into each other's eyes. Their faces inched closer and closer to each other, and their lips were inches away…

"Hey!" The music screeched to a halt and both spun their heads toward Courtney, who was in front of them, hands on her hips. "Are you two going to head back to camp with me or keep ogling each other? We have to hurry before you get worse, Candace."

"Oh… right." Geoff sighed and started walking again. Courtney shook her head and continued walking ahead of them. Once her attention was completely away from them, the two looked back at each other, exchanging small smiles.

*T*S*R*

* * *

"Okay, abandoning Keith probably was not the best way to get girlfriend bonus points," Marilee sadly mused. "Still, I couldn't risk getting us both shot! H-He should understand that, right?"

* * *

Keith walked back toward camp, grumbling quietly to himself. "Can't believe she bolted… I though we had something real…" He crossed his arms and pouted childishly. "Gave her the best several days of my life…"

After a moment of sulking and walking, he saw DJ and called out, "Yo, Deej!"

DJ flinched and covered himself with his arms, thinking he was going to get shot, but when he didn't feel any paint on him, he opened one eye. He saw Keith a few feet away and slowly got out of his defense position. "Oh, hey." He noticed Keith's paint-stained shirt and asked, "I'm gonna guess you got shot?"

Keith nodded, frowning again. "Yeah… and Marilee was right there, but she left as soon as I got shot." He crossed his arms. "Some girlfriend, right?"

DJ raised an eyebrow, a little confused by Keith's logic. "So… You _wanted _her to get hit with one of those paint shurikens, too?"

"No," Keith said, shaking his head. "But she went back for me when I got shot during the prison thing. I don't get why she didn't do it this time around…"

"No offense here bro, but why does it matter?" DJ asked.

Keith's brows furrowed together and he asked, "Well, would you want Heather to abandon _you_?" Keith grumpily sat down on a long log and pouted some more.

DJ took a seat next to him and answered, "If I had already been shot and there was nothing she could do about it, then yeah." Keith didn't budge, so he sighed and added, "Man, you and Marilee are perfect for each other. Y'all are both stubborn as mules… but that's an insult to mules everywhere."

"Heeeey!" Keith whined. "I thought you were supposed to be the nice guy!"

DJ smirked and shrugged. "We can't be nice all the time." He patted Keith on the shoulder, stood up, and went along his merry way.

After a moment of musing over what DJ had told him, Keith sighed, because he had realized that DJ was right.

* * *

"Maybe I am a little stubborn…" Keith paused for a moment, then smirked a little. "But that's why everybody loves me, right? Well, I at least think Mar loves that about me…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

"Finally, we're here!" Courtney exclaimed, glad to finally be there. She turned to Geoff and said, "Take Candace to the infirmary."

Geoff, who was still holding a now sleeping Candace, looked confused. "You're not coming with us?"

She shook her head. "No. I'm going to find Chris and give him a piece of my mind…" She stormed off toward the camp ground, leaving Geoff with Candace in his arms. Normally, Geoff would have tried to get the CIT to chill out, but even _he_ thought Chris deserved to get chewed out for this…

He carried her to the infirmary tent, careful not to wake her up. However, she lightly stirred when he laid her on one of the lumpy cots. "Hmm?" she mumbled, opening her eyes. She didn't lift her head off the pillow, but eyed the room. "Where am I?"

"The infirmary," Geoff answered, sitting down on the end of the cot and finally removing his pirate gear. "Uh… I think Courtney's getting Chef to help you out with your insulator."

"Insulin?" Candace guessed, giggling slightly.

"Oh… Right."

Candace giggled again, looking around the infirmary again. She saw a mirror on the table by her cot, gasping at her appearance. Her strawberry blonde hair was completely disheveled, having fallen out of her long ponytail a while ago. She had sweated all of her makeup off, and she was still sweating a little. She sat up, pulling Courtney's mask out of her Capri pocket to dab her sweaty forehead. "I'm so embarrassed…" she mumbled, more to herself than Geoff.

Geoff did hear her, however. "About what?" he asked.

Candace looked over to him and answered, "A bunch of stuff. Forgetting to take my insulin, for one. I never forget. I don't know how I…" A light bulb went off in her head, and she suddenly remembered what had made her forget. "Ooooh… I think I know why I forgot."

"Really? Why?"

Candace blushed and bit her lip, thinking back to that morning…

**Flashback: That morning, in the mess hall…**

_It was an average breakfast. Well, except for Marilee's tantrum. Still, there was the same slop, same people who hadn't been voted off, except…_

"_Geoff, put your shirt back on!" Marilee whined, embarrassed by her brother's stupidity._

_Geoff, who had been innocently eating his slop shirtless, put his spoon down and complained, "I didn't want to get food on my shirt!"_

"_Seriously, dude, you could always just put a new shirt on," Duncan pointed out, almost embarrassed to call that idiot his best friend._

_Selena, who was seated between Marilee and Duncan and across from Geoff, shrugged and smiled. "Makes sense to me. I don't mind, Geoff…" _

"_Thank you!" Geoff exasperatedly sighed. "At least _someone _here understands my logic!" While Geoff continued eating, Selena snuck a peek at his rock-hard abs and giggled like a schoolgirl. Duncan slapped her in the back of her head, making her whine, rub the sore spot, and glare at her brother._

_From the other side of the mess hall, Candace had just throw her trash away and was ready to take her insulin for the day. As she was going to go up and remind Chef, she got a clear shot of Geoff's torso. Any thought she had instantly melted into a giant puddle of pudding. She mindlessly flopped into a seat where she got a great view of the party boy's abs. Candace rested her chin in her palm and sighed dreamily, while LeShawna, who was seated across from her, waved a hand in front of her face. "Candace? You in there?" LeShawna shook her head and smirked. "Girl's got it bad."_

_Gwen, sitting next to Candace, nodded in agreement. "Tell me something I don't know. She's practically drooling in my juice," she joked. Looking back at Candace, she cringed and muttered, "And now she really _is_ drooling in my juice…"_

**End Flashback**

"Uh… Long story," Candace muttered, playing with a loose string on the itchy blanket underneath her. "But that's not the point. I'm also humiliated you and Courtney saw me like that."

"Why?" Geoff asked. "You were sick and Courtney and I helped you out. I know you'd do the same if it were either of us who was all hypoallergenic."

Candace laughed and corrected him by saying, "Hypoglycemic."

"… Yeah, that too! But why are you so embarrassed?"

Candace's smile disappeared and she cried out, "Geoff, look at me! I'm all sweaty and shaky and messed up and smelly and-"

"-And totally hot," Geoff interrupted, smiling at her.

Candace paused, letting a small grin slip onto her lips. "Seriously?

"Yeah!" Geoff said, nodding. "Even when you're all sweaty and gross, you're still a major babe!"

Candace raised an eyebrow, but still smirked. "I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and say that that was supposed to be a compliment."

Geoff realized his mistake and face palmed. "Dang it! I'm sorry, Candy, I-"

"It's fine," Candace told him. "It was sweet of you to say, despite how horribly you put it." She thought of something and asked, "Hey, Geoff?"

Geoff rubbed the red spot on his forehead and mumbled, "Yeah?"

"Why do you call me Candy? Nobody else has ever called me Candy, not even my parents."

"Do you not want me to call you that?" Geoff asked, worried. "'Cause I can stop if you-"

Candace placed her hand over his mouth to stop his nervous rambling. "No, silly. I… I actually like it. Especially coming from you." She slid her hand off his mouth, revealing his newly-gained grin. "It's like a cute little pet name… I like it."

"Cool," he said, still grinning. He looked down, seeing that when Candace had sipped her hand off his face, she had placed it over his hand. A fresh blush crept onto her cheeks and she said, "I really appreciate everything you did today, Geoff. You could have shot Courtney and I but you didn't."

"I wouldn't have the heart to do that after what happened to you… Plus, my aim sucks," Geoff muttered, making Candace laugh again. She tried stifling a yawn, but Geoff could still see that she was tried. "Maybe you should lay down until Chef gets here."

Candace whined, crossed her arms and pouted. "Aww, don't wanna!"

Geoff put on a mockingly stern face and wagged his finger in her face. "Don't you sass me, young lady!"

They both laughed as Geoff lightly nudged her to lay down. As she snuggled into the pillow, Geoff leaned over to sweep a stray strand of hair out of her face. Candace looked up at him, since his face was a few mere inches away from hers. "Thanks again, Geoff."

Geoff looked into her eyes and grinned. "Don't mention it." He kissed her cheek and was ready to get up, but Candace placed a hand on his cheek. Looking back into her eyes, he asked, "What's up, Candy?" She continued to look into his eyes, appearing to be thinking something over. "Uh… Candace? Are you-" Before he had time to finish his question, Candace placed her other hand on his other cheek. Getting a soft but firm grip on him, she pulled the party boy closer to her and gave him a big kiss on the lips. After a good ten seconds of smooching, she let him go.

Faintly grinning up at him as he stood up, she mumbled, "I think we're even now…"

She flopped over to make herself more comfortable, so she couldn't see Geoff's current expression. She heard his footsteps as he walked out of the infirmary tent, but he said nothing. Once the flap to the tent had been flopped into place and the room got darker, Candace heard a loud, "WOO HOO!" from outside, with the voice recognizably being Geoff's.

Candace only laughed and shook her head as she made herself more comfortable on the lumpy mattress. Before she dozed of, she whispered to herself, "He's a goofball… But I guess he's my goofball now…"

* * *

Say it with me… AWW!

'bout time those two got together, right? XP

I hope I wrote about Candace's condition okay. I got most of the info from my diabetic friend Laney, but she was really little during her few hypoglycemic episodes, so she doesn't remember much. I had to rely on medical websites for that part. Hope I did it justice :3


	39. Day 16, Part 3: Friendship and Farewells

The challenge had basically ended, so everybody was heading back to camp. Duncan noticed that he saw everybody but his pink-clad sister. He saw Zoey walk by, so he stopped her by putting his foot in front of her, forcing her to halt. "You seen Selena anywhere?"

"No," Zoey told him, shaking her head. "Maybe she got lost."

"Maybe," Duncan said with a shrug. "Or maybe-" He cut himself short when he started looking up at the sky, and Zoey had guessed he finally saw Selena. What she didn't know was why he started laughing so hard.

"What is it?" Her brother was laughing too hard to talk, so he shakily pointed to a tree a few yards away, falling on the ground from laughing so hard soon after. After giving him a strange look, she saw the dangling thing he was pointing at. It made her burst out laughing, too.

The dangling thing was Selena, who was not at all happy. "I can see you laughing!" she screamed, swaying back and forth by her bra straps. "You guys are the worst siblings ever!" She pouted for a moment, then an idea came to her. "Oh, DUH!" She smacked herself in the forehead. "Why didn't I think of that before?" She looked over, seeing that Duncan and Zoey's eyes were too full of tears of laughter to see her, so she reached behind her back. Fiddling with something for a moment, she finally heard a snap. "Yes! Selena, one, Gwen, zip!" She wriggled around for a moment, and without losing her shirt, she was finally free of her bra.

But that also meant she was free from being dangled, which resulted in her falling ten feet and landing flat on her face.

Once her siblings heard the thud, they stopped laughing, opened their eyes and saw her unconscious body. Duncan slowly got up and walked over to her, Zoey close behind him. Once they were there, Duncan crouched down by Selena, poking her in the arm. Zoey lightly poked her limp leg with the tip of her shoe. Selena stayed motionless.

Zoey and Duncan exchanged looks for a moment, a mildly shocked expression on both of their faces. After a few more seconds, the two bit their lips, trying not to laugh. They failed after another second or two.

*T*S*R*

After Selena regained consciousness, all the campers sans Candace and Courtney had assembled back at the bonfire pit, ready to see who won. When the Fighting Ferrets saw that Keith was the only person there with a paint splotch on him, they realized their chances at victory were microscopic.

As Chris walked up to the group, Courtney following behind him, he shook his head and said, "I'm disappointed in you guys. You had _hours_ out there, but only _one _of you got shot?" He shook his head again and muttered, "Big bunch of losers…"

Courtney crossed her arms and bitterly said, "Well, Geoff and I _could _have shot someone if we didn't have to make sure Candace didn't _die_!"

Worry entered the eyes of most of the other siblings and LeShawna asked, "What's she talkin' about? Is she okay?"

"She is now," Courtney confirmed, then glared at Chris. "No thanks to you!"

"It's not my fault she's stupid!" Chris yelled.

"Candace isn't stupid," Duncan pointed out. He jabbed a finger in his blonde sister's direction and added, "Selena is."

"Yeah," Selena said with a nod. "And what-" She stopped for a moment, realized what Duncan had said, and blew a big raspberry at him.

"I know you were monitoring our every move!" Courtney screamed at Chris, ignoring Duncan and Selena's comments. "Don't tell me you didn't see Candace sprawled out on the forest floor on one of the hundreds of monitors you have!"

"Okay," Chris said with a nod. "I won't, then."

Courtney growled at him, then added, "You could have gotten her back to camp easily, but you didn't because you only care about the ratings! If you think you can get away with this, you're wrong!"

"She's fine now, isn't she?" Chris crossed his arms and muttered, "Don't see why you're so peeved…"

"Okay, will you two explain what's going on?" Gwen asked, tired of trying to figure out the scenario herself. "Why was Candace almost dead in the first place?"

"I'm sick of talking about Candace and her almost dying!" Chris whined, stomping his foot childishly. "If you want to know so badly, go ask Candace after we're done… Anyway, as you all can probably tell, Keith is the only person who got shot, because you all suck at life."

* * *

"Just to make it clear," Marilee began, "paintball is nothing like life." She tapped her chin and added, "Unless you're a professional hunter for a living… Or a hit man."

* * *

"So, we lost?" Trent asked, looking crestfallen.

"Right you are," Chris said with a nod. The Raving Ravens all let out mixed cheers, then Chris told them, "That's right, you guys are safe… for tonight!"

"Ha!" Selena laughed, running up to Cody and poking him in the cheek. "In your face! I told you ninjas were better than pirates!" As she proudly walked back over to her spot, most of her teammates face-palmed at her… uniqueness.

As the Ravens dispersed from the area to celebrate, the Ferrets tried to hide their disappointment and looked back at Chris.

"It's getting to be nightfall," DJ pointed out. "Guess we should start the ceremony…"

"Oh, there will be no ceremony tonight," Chris told them.

The team exchanged confused looks this time, then Geoff asked, "Uh… How's _that_ going to work?"

"Yeah, one of us needs to be voted off, right?" Trent asked.

"One of you is leaving, all right," Chris told them with a devious grin. He walked closer to them and continued, "But none of you are voting."

"Um… Like Geoff said, how's _that _going to work?" Marilee asked. "How are we deciding who's leaving, then?"

Chris's grin got even wider and he said, "See, that's what the fun part is!" He walked over to Keith and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Since Keith was the only one who got shot, he's the overall loser of the day!" Both Marilee and Keith's stomachs twisted into knots, their fears only confirmed when Chris finished with "So it's Dock of Shame time for you, Keithster!"

"NO!" Marilee immediately shouted as she slapped Chris across the face, DJ holding her back soon after. "You can't do that!" she yelled, desperately trying to break free of DJ's grip on her. "That's got to be against some kind of rule or something!" Her anger seemed more like frantic sadness by this point.

Chris rubbed his sore cheek, then glared at the captivated blonde and stubbornly said, "I'm the host, so what I say goes!" Marilee stopped struggling and sadly looked down, appearing to have given up, so DJ let her free. The host turned back to Keith and told him, "You've got half an hour to get your stuff and get on the boat." As he walked past Marilee, he mumbled, "Don't know how the dude can stand dating that _freak_…" His back was turned away from her by this point, so he wasn't able to see Marilee being held back by DJ, Geoff, Trent _and _Duncan to prevent her from doing something she'd regret.

*T*S*R*

Keith tossed some of his t-shirts into the duffel bag sitting on his bed next to Marilee. She promptly pulled them out, neatly folded them, then placed them back in. Her biggest pet peeve was wrinkled clothing…

"I'm so sorry, Keith," Marilee mumbled, looking down at her lap sadly. "If I hadn't flaked on you like that and just taken the shot, you would have had a chance…"

"Mar, it's not your fault," Keith said, pulling more clothing out of his dresser drawer and putting it back into the duffel bag. When his back was turned, she pulled out one of the clothing articles out so she could fold it, revealing a pair of his boxers. She quickly tossed it back in, a look of pure disgust on her face, and wiped her hand off on the blanket underneath her.

"Yes, it is!" She crossed her arms and pouted. "You getting hit by a paintball is one of those weird things where I was supposed to get hit too, for some reason, to 'help' you... even though it makes no sense."

Keith turned back around, raised an eyebrow and asked, "Says who?"

"Frank," Marilee bluntly answered.

Keith looked confused and scratched his head. "Who?

Marilee shook her head and mumbled, "Never mind… But it's true!" She buried her face in her hands and half-screamed, "Why do I always screw things up?"

"Babe, come on," Keith said, rolling his eyes. "You're friggin' perfect. You, like, never screw-" He looked back at her, seeing that her chest was heavily shaking and she was rubbing her eyes. "Marilee… Are you _crying_?"

"No, you idiot!" Marilee choked out, grabbing the blanket from underneath her and wiping her eyes with it. "I'm sweating through my eyes!"

* * *

"Huh," Keith grumbled, looking intrigued. "Marilee never told me she was a Phineas and Ferb fan… Then again, I'm embarrassed to admit that I am too, considering I'm a teenager…" He frowned and muttered, "Though Marilee's probably going to be mad at me for revealing to the world just a moment ago that she is, too…" He crossed his arms and pouted. "Hey, I got voted off! She should cut me some slack!"

* * *

"Hey," Keith soothingly said, sitting next to her. "Come here." He laid her head on his shoulder and rubbed her back in an attempt to get her to calm down. "Sweat all you want, Mar. Sweat all you want…"

Biting her lip in attempts to stop sobbing and gripping onto the fabric of his t-shirt to release some stress, she looked back up at Keith, not removing her head from his shoulder. "Dammit, Keith! Why do you have to be so nice to me? I ruined your entire chances of winning!"

He rubbed her shoulder lightly and told her, "If you had stayed with me, you would have gotten shot, too and we'd both probably be on the line right now. I'd rather be going than for you to even have a chance of being voted off."

"There you go again, being all stupid and too nice," she muttered, wrapping her arms around him. "You're too good for me."

Placing his hand on her waist, he gingerly said, "I feel the same way about you…"

"I'm really going to miss you," Marilee whimpered, a small tear drop rolling down her cheek. Keith lifted her head up so he could look at her and wiped the "sweat" away.

"I'll miss you, too," he told her, wrapping his arms around her for a tight hug, which she slowly returned. "Just do me a favor, okay?"

Sniffing a little, she said, "Anything. You name it."

A small smirk creeping onto his lips, he told her, "Don't be all mopey after I'm gone, okay? I want you to be your usual kick ass self. Promise?"

Another tear rolling down her cheek, she gave him a sweet kiss on the cheek, she whispered, "With all my heart…"

*T*S*R*

While the others were saying their goodbyes to Keith, Grace walked away from the group and up to Mia, who was filing her nails by the mess hall. "Tsk, tsk…" She shook her head and muttered, "You didn't hit a single person. You're not that great of an ally, so far…" She narrowed her eyes and said, "You'd better bring you're a-game next time, or I'll show Chris the DVD anyway!"

She stormed off toward her cabin, not seeing Mia strangle the air in front of her, pretending it was Grace's neck.

Back at the dock, everybody but the soon-to-be separated couple had walked off so the two could say one last goodbye to each other.

Instead of making out, they chose simply to give each other a soft kiss on the lips, clasping to each others' hands lightly. Keith grabbed his packed duffel bag in one hand, still holding onto Marilee's with the other. Even as he stepped onto the Boat of Losers, they didn't release each other's hands. Once Chef started the engine and gently putted along, They tried to hold onto each other for as long as they could. As he started going faster, the two finally let go of each other, though neither were happy about it. Marilee waved goodbye to the fading Keith until his boat had sailed off the horizon.

DJ, Selena and Trent watched from afar, Trent and DJ leaning against one of the trees near their cabin, with Selena sitting at their feet. "That's too bad," Trent said, arms crossed casually. "I know how Keith feels."

"My heart's really going out to Marilee right now," a sad Selena said. "I feel so bad for the both of them."

"I'm still a little scared of Marilee," DJ began, "but even I feel sorry for her. Keith, too."

"Y'know, the three of you are sort of alike," Trent commented, both DJ and Selena focusing their attention on him. "You two and Marilee, I mean. Your boyfriends and girlfriend were all voted off before you, so I guess that's something you all have in common."

"We should start an 'Our Significant Others Are Big Losers' club, huh, Deej?" Selena asked, looking up at the Jamaican Canadian and giggling.

DJ laughed and said, "Yeah, Gwen too, since she made it farther than Trent last year." He lightly nudged Trent and added, "And Trent could join Heather, Zack and Keith's 'We're Big Losers Club'…"

"Oh, ha ha ha," Trent sarcastically chuckled, rolling his eyes as the other two laughed at him. "I'd rather have Gwen get farther than me this time around too, anyway. She deserves it more than I do."

Selena quietly scoffed and mumbled, "Yeah right."

Trent, not understanding what she said, gazed down at her and asked, "What was that?"

"Nothing," she quickly and awkwardly replied, looking down at her lap.

DJ looked around, then started, "Hey, do you guys know… if…" He stopped talking when he looked up in the tree he was leaning on and saw something. "Uh…"

"What's up, DJ?" Trent asked, wondering what he was looking at.

"_That_ is," DJ asked, pointing to the item in question.

Trent saw it too and cocked an eyebrow. "Why is there a _bra_ hanging off that branch?"

Selena sprung up from her cross-legged position and blurted out, "Weeeell, _that_ was a fun conversation!" She giggled nervously and asked, "Who wants to go back to my side of the cabin and snack on the sour gummi worms and red cream soda I took from Owen's secret stash?" Before they could respond, she ran off, making sure they didn't see the crimson blush creeping onto her cheeks.

DJ and Trent exchanged a confused glance, then shrugged and followed her. Because who doesn't like gummi worms and red cream soda, right?

*T*S*R*

Courtney poked her head into the medical tent, wondering if Candace was feeling better. When Candace saw her and instantly popped upward in her cot, she seemed to get her answer.

"I'm guessing you got your insulin and are rested up?" she asked, walking closer toward her.

Candace nodded, still smiling. "Yep. How'd your talk with Chris go after you left Geoff and me?"

Courtney looked up at the ceiling in thought, a small smirk creeping onto her lips. "Let's just say he's going to be keeping a closer eye on you from now on… Or else I'm going to do more than yell at him… I never knew human ears could bleed from yelling too loud…"

"I've heard you yell…" Candace smirked. "From how angry you were, I'm surprised they didn't fall off. Did Geoff tell you about…"

Courtney rolled her eyes and muttered, "Please, he told everybody the minute he left the tent. The word is spread."

The cheerleader giggled and said, "Man, he's so over excitable… It's so cute!"

Courtney sat on the end of her cot, smirking at the thought of how pumped Geoff had been about him and Candace wordlessly getting together. "Yeah… Candace?"

"Uh huh?"

"Is it okay if I tell you something?"

Candace shrugged. "Chef is making me stay overnight to get extra rest without any interruptions. I've got nothing better to do."

Courtney bit her lip, then began, "The first week or so, I didn't really like you. I thought you'd be shallow, vapid or just plain stupid."

"Can I change my mind about letting you tell me this?" Candace asked, frowning.

"It gets better," she reassured her. "But after you choose me as your co-captain, I saw you differently. For you to choose me just to get to become friend with me… That was really sweet."

Candace started smiling again and added, "I also chose you because of your wicked leadership skills and all that jazz…"

Courtney continued, "You really are a kind, intelligent person. You're kind of like your brother, without the moronic mannerisms and the slovenliness, of course…"

* * *

"Courtney and Geoff seem to keep insulting me or my family in their compliments," Candace mused, her smile still unfazed.

* * *

Courtney smiled and told her, "The point is, I just wanted to tell you that your plan to become friends with me worked."

"Really?" Candace crawled over to Courtney and death-hugged her. "Yay! BFFs!"

Courtney awkwardly hugged back, but told her, "I wouldn't go that far…" Once they separated, Courtney added, "But we definitely are friends."

"Well… Beings Fs is good, too," Candace happily mumbled, lying back down and crawling under the covers. "Thanks for telling me that. Now if you don't mind, it's getting late and I've had an exhausting day…"

"I can imagine…" With one last wave, Courtney got up and walked out of the tent to give Candace some well-earned rest.

*T*S*R*

Still sitting on the end the dock, Marilee let her feet dangle as she stared back at her reflection in the water. She couldn't believe how badly that day had turned out. Admittedly, she had wanted to be less attached to Keith, but she had never wanted to be free of him like _this_!

And she couldn't believe she had actually _cried _because of him. She could only recall several times in her life, but they were hardly ever in front of people that weren't relatives. Did that… _mean_ something?

Before she could decipher that anymore, someone slowly sat down next to her. Marilee looked to her left to see Jovie looking back at her with sympathy-filled eyes. In her hands was a simple box of apple juice, which she held out to Marilee. "I thought you'd need this. I'm really sorry, girl."

Pushing her perfectly coifed bangs out of her face, she gave her friend a small smile and accepted the juice. "It won't be too bad, I guess. And there's no need to be sorry." She sipped some of the juice and added, "It's not your fault."

Jovie gave Marilee her most convincing grin, trying her best not to look guilty. She didn't have to know she was the one who hit Keith with her paint shuriken…

"It's still too bad, though," Jovie said, patting the blonde on the back.

Marilee shrugged, a small sniffle escaping from her. "Maybe we needed a break," she mumbled, looking back down at her reflection and continuing to drink her juice.

Jovie wrapped an arm around her friend, trying to shrug off the guilt she was feeling for hurting her friend so badly…

*T*S*R*

Nighttime had officially fallen. Most of the campers had retired to their cabins by then, but one girl has escaped her cabin momentarily and was heading toward the other. She was getting ready to knock on the door when a certain Goth girl opened it before she could.

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Selena? Weird, I was just leaving to talk to you…"

Selena uncurled the fist she was going to use to knock on the door with and rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Really? 'Cause I just wanted to tell you something…"

"Me too…"

"I'm sorry," they simultaneously said.

"What?" Gwen asked, raising an eyebrow. "What are _you_ sorry for?"

"For trying to get you eliminated," Selena confessed, scuffing one of the wood planks of the deck with her boot. "And for basically getting Zack eliminated." She looked back up at her, raising her eyebrow as well. "What are _you_ sorry for?"

"I pretty much started the whole thing," Gwen guiltily admitted. "I didn't have to be such a jerk to you. You never would have tried attacking me if I hadn't. I just wanted to start fresh and be the bigger person so we can get this whole thing-"

"Whoa, whoa, **whoa**!" Selena interrupted, suddenly looking appalled. "You think _you're _the bigger person here?" She shook her head and scoffed. "Nuh uh, sister, _I'm_ being the bigger person by apologizing to _you_!"

Gwen glared at her. "You're out of your mind! I never would have been so awful to you in the first place if you hadn't brain-washed my brother! I'm the bigger person!"

"OR," Selena emphasized, "maybe if you had realized Zack's elimination was not purposely caused by me and gotten the heck over it, you could have avoided being so mean to me! But you didn't, so I'm being the bigger person by being more forgiving of you than you should be of me, but I guess that makes you a big person, but I'm still bigger so it's more like _you're_ the little person and _I'm _the big person and… and…" Cross-eyed from her run-on sentence, she gripped her spinning head and shut her eyes. "Wh-what did I just say?…"

Gwen held her hands up in defeat and said, "You know, we're both sorry. Let's just say we're both big people. No need to start another feud between us over who's more sorry than the other."

Shaking the pain out of her head, Selena looked back at Gwen and smiled. "Sounds good to me."

The two shook on it, then Gwen emerged back into her cabin as Selena walked back to hers.

* * *

I know I like sour gummi worms and red cream soda… I'm not so sure about combining the two, though…

But I'm sorry this is kinda short. I hope it was at least sweet :3 ... And sad :c


	40. Day 17, Part 1: Give a Little Bit!

Sorry this took so long. I started writing, but halfway through I didn't like the challenge as much, so I scrapped most of it, except for the beginning with Candace and Marilee, and yadda yadda yadda. At least you get something decent.

I need to explain something real quick. TDDDDI _did_ happen in the TSR universe. Only difference is that the money landed in the lake and got eaten by the shark, but nobody else landed in the lake, so it was a draw. Chris got all mad and only agreed to let them earn half back next time around, for those who qualified. He determined the contestants for this season by the number of sibling they had and their personalities, and the rest is history… You sorta need to know that for later on in the chapter…

Real quick, here's a refresher on the new teams, cuz even I found myself confused while writing…

Raving Ravens: Candace, Cody, Courtney, Gwen, Jovie, LeShawna

Fighting Ferrets: DJ, Duncan, Geoff, Grace, Marilee, Selena, Trent, Zoey

New challenge day! Enjoy!

((And sorry, not much couple-ishness of any kind in here, there will be next chapter, kthnx))

* * *

After Candace had taken her insulin shot for the day, she stepped out of the medical tent, shielding her eyes from the bright sun. She had been stuck in the bleak tent all night and had practically forgotten how bright the sun was. However, she wasn't blinded enough to not see Marilee walked toward her.

* * *

"I think it's cool that Candace is dating Geoff now." Marilee filed her nails, not paying any mind to the camera. "She's way better for him than that slut of a heartbreaker Bridgette." She tucked the file back in her pocket and crossed her arms. "No offence or anything, Keith, but I guess we can't control who we're related to. Take me and Duke, for example," she commented with a smirk.

* * *

"Hey, look who's not all sweaty and sickish anymore," Marilee said with a small grin.

"Hi," Candace greeted, smiling sweetly. "Geoff told me what happened with Keith. I'm really sorry."

"Of course he did," the blonde grumbled. "He told me about you two getting together."

Candace rolled her eyes. "According to Courtney, he told everybody."

Marilee raised an eyebrow and placed a hand on her hip. "You don't seem that happy about it. I figured you'd be grinning so hard, you'd have to stay in there longer so Chef could snap your jaw back into place..."

The cheerleader sheepishly shrugged, then admitted, "I didn't want to make you feel bad… Y'know, with Keith and all. And Geoff is your brother, so I thought you wouldn't want to chat about it or anything."

Marilee rolled her eyes and joked, "I'm cool with it as long as you don't get him pregnant."

The two laughed as they headed toward the mess hall, but not before Marilee made a stop at the Confession Can.

* * *

"Am I sad about Keith leaving?" Marilee nodded. "Of course. Can I survive without him?" She rolled her eyes. "Um, once again, of course! I'm not gonna mope about it forever." She clenched a fist and said, "I am a strong, independent young woman! I'm going to win this whether he's supporting me _here_ or at Playa de Losers!" She pressed her ear against the wall of the outhouse to make sure no one was listening outside and then added, "But I miss you, puddin' pop!" and blew a kiss to the camera.

* * *

Once they reached the mess hall, they went to their separate tables and started eating their disgusting breakfast. Candace took one last glance at her friend before taking a seat between Courtney and Jovie. "She's trying not to show how sad she is," Candace stated. "Poor girl."

"Maybe she really isn't that torn up about it," Cody, seated across from her, suggested as he poked his meal with a spork.

"Or maybe she doesn't want to let it mess up her game," LeShawna said, taking a sip of her orange juice.

"Or maybe I'm right," Candace stubbornly said, a cute pout on her lips. "She really liked him. She can't just be _over _him leaving!"

"Just because she's a teenager doesn't means he has to be all full of angst about being away from her boyfriend for more than twenty minutes," Gwen pointed out. "Please don't tell me _you're _going to be all clingy with Geoff now…"

Candace waved a dismissive hand. "After what happened with Bridgette, I think Geoff will want to take it slow. And I'm totally cool with that. But I still feel sorry for Marilee. She must be _devastated_…"

The Raving Ravens all looked over at the Fighting Ferrets table to see them all burst out laughing at something DJ had said, Marilee laughing the hardest. As she leaned against Selena to keep herself from falling on the floor and continued to laugh with the others, Gwen rolled her eyes and sarcastically mumbled, "How has she not jumped off the cliff in a fit of depression yet?"

Candace blinked, then sighed, "Well, I've been wrong before… Out of curiosity, which one of you hit Keith, anyway? I know it wasn't me or Courtney."

"Wasn't me," LeShawna said.

"Me neither," Gwen said, looking over at Jovie, who was slumping in her seat and picking at her bowl of slop. "_You've_ been pretty quiet this morning… Is something-"

"Okay, I did it!" Jovie exclaimed, covering her face in shame. "He's gone because of me!"

"What's the big deal?" Cody asked. "You seemed happy about it yesterday."

"Because I didn't know he was the only one who got shot!" She rested her head on the table. "That's what I get for going against my principles…"

"You were just helping your team," Courtney said, finally speaking up. "Marilee should understand that."

"I don't blame Jovie for being a little freaked," LeShawna admitted, patting her sister on the back. "Who knows how she'd react if she found out! I swear, that girl must be bipolar or something."

"Oh, my cousin Taylor's the same way," Candace piped up.

"Really?" Jovie asked, lifting her head from the table to look at her.

Candace nodded. "Yeah. Though I don't think it applies to Marilee," she told LeShawna. "Marilee doesn't like boys and girls, only boys." The other teammates exchanged glances and once Candace saw how they were looking at her, she quietly asked, "Didn't you say 'bisexual'?"

LeShawna shook her head. "Bipolar."

Candace slumped. "Oh. Never mind…"

Suddenly, Chris walked in, looking as smug as ever. "Campers, are you ready for today's challenge?"

"Of course not," Gwen grumpily said. "Are we _ever_ ready for your torture?"

"Worry not!" Chris crossed his arms behind his back and said, "For once, today's challenge will actually help out somebody." Gwen was about to speak, but Chris beat her to it and said, "Somebody _besides_ me. This challenge is all about charity."

"Seriously?" Gwen raised an eyebrow, eyes wide. "Wow. I'm actually impressed."

"Yeah!" Candace grinned. "That's really nice of you!"

"Actually, the producers are making me do it," Chris mumbled, brows furrowing in frustration. "After the whole thing with Candace last time, they said this show needs more humanity."

"Are you sure they didn't say insanity?" Geoff asked. "Or profanity?" He scratched his head and added, "I know _I _always get those words mixed up…"

Ignoring Geoff, Chris continued, "Anyway, the winner for today will be determined by whoever raises the most money for charity and-"

"What charity?" Jovie asked. "Is it PETA?" She suddenly got more excited and, grinning, said, "I love PETA! They do such great things for those sweet little animals!"

Chris gave her a look and rolled his eyes. "Yes. Because I was so negligent about Candace's type one diabetes yesterday, we're raising money for **PETA**…"

Jovie could have sensed his sarcasm a mile away, so she shrank back in her seat and mumbled, "Okay, okay… It was just a question…"

"Obviously," Chris continued, "we'll be raising money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation." He looked at Candace, putting his fake host-like grin back on. "You're **welcome**."

* * *

"I can't help but feel weird when people talk about yesterday," Candace admitted, looking uncomfortable. However, she still kept a small smile on her face. "And Chris may being acting sort of jerkish about yesterday, even though he could have helped and all, but at least he's making us do a challenge that could help people!" She scratched the back of her head and grumbled, "Even though the producers are _making_ him do it…"

* * *

"And how are we supposed to _get_ this money?" Courtney asked. "The only people on this island are the contestants, the interns, you and Chef." She crossed her arms and continued, "You and Chef won't give us anything, the interns are interns, so they don't even get paid, and I'm pretty sure none of us have any money."

DJ dug around in the pocket of his shorts, pulling out a crumpled bill. "I've got five dollars," he said, right before Zoey quick snatched it from him.

She waved the money above her head and cried, "We win!"

"Not quite," Chris said, making the little girl droop in disappointment. As she gave DJ his money back, the host added, "For this challenge, you guys will be going to the big city!"

* * *

"Now that's what I'm talking about," Duncan said, a cocky grin on his face. "The city's _my_ turf. We'll win, no prob."

* * *

"Duncan's always going on about how the city is 'his turf' or something," Selena said, air quoting 'his turf'. "We grew up in the suburbs! Who does he think he's kidding?" She tapped her chin. "Then again, he'd always sneak off and cause mayhem… He could have snuck off to the city for all I know. Dad never tells me what he does. Says they're not appropriate to talk about to someone my age… He also says they're not even appropriate for someone _his _age to be discussing…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

"Why'd we have to take a plane?" LeShawna yelled at Chris over the roar of the engine of the junky plane they were flying in.

Chris, gripping a metal bar in front of the small passenger's room, rolled his eyes and yelled, "What, were you planning on _skateboarding _off an island in the middle of a lake?"

"Camp Wawanakwa isn't even on an island!" Courtney shouted, narrowing her eyes at him.

The host's eyes widened and he was silent for a moment, making it easy to hear a piece of the plane fall off from the outside. He suddenly laughed it off. "Wh-What? Of course it is!"

Tamyra, who was seated up front near Chris with the other interns, crossed her arms, not buying it. "Courtney found out the camp was right next to civilization during the special. Did you think we'd all just forget about that?"

"Uh…" To avoid letting anything else slip, he looked out the window. It was lucky he did, because if not, they would have missed their landing spot. "Time to get off, campers!"

DJ quickly looked out his window, not seeing anything. "Uh, I don't see an airport…"

"This hunk of garbage isn't part of an official airline!" Chris exclaimed, quickly dodging a heavy piece of metal that fell from the ceiling. "We can't land at an airport!"

"Where are we landing then?" Jovie asked.

"Here!" Chris cried out. "Everyone stand up!"

Every one of the siblings did, but none of them moved. "You're making all of us jump out of the plane?" DJ cried, completely freaked out.

Chris attached himself to the wall he was standing by with a huge, strap-like seatbelt and told him, "No, _you_ guys are jumping out!"

As the interns strapped on their seatbelts and clung onto the cheap benches they were seated on, Cody worriedly asked, "Aren't you going to at least give us parachutes?"

As the roar of the engine and the propellers got louder, Chris yelled, "We spent all the money in today's budget on renting this plane! We're doing this World War I style!"

Eyebrows furrowed in confusion, Selena asked, "What's that supposed to-"

Before she was able to finish, the entire plane titled toward the door that Chris slid open, and the contestants hastily fell out soon after. As soon as their feet left the semi-safety of the plane floor, each contestant let out loud screams, plummeting to what they assumed to be their death. As they got closer to the ground, they expected to face plant on pavement. Instead, they landed on something… soft?

Once getting over the overall shock, Gwen lifted herself, only to find her, Cody, and Jovie lying on a cushy mattress. She looked ahead of her, seeing nothing but grass. As she rubbed her head, she said, "Last time I checked, Toronto looked _nothing _like this…"

Cody sat up, too, looking in the opposite direction Gwen was looking in. "Huh." Cody pointed to a dumpy building nearby that had a sign that read _**Abandoned Mattress Factory **_and said, "That was pretty convenient."

As Jovie sat up, the three looked around to see the others scattered around on several other mattresses, all of them looking around in confusion. Slowly but surely, each of them got on their feet, seeing nothing but the old factory, their mattresses, tall grass and dirt. "Why are there mattresses _outside_ the factory?" LeShawna asked, not expecting an answer from anyone.

Suddenly, a strong wind started whipping their hair and blowing dust in their faces as the dilapidated plane landed about fifty feet away. Chris, Chef, and a few of the interns hopped out and headed toward the siblings.

"Dude!" Selena yelled at Chris in frustration. "Why couldn't you just let us get off after you guys landed?"

"That ain't no fun!" Chef exclaimed, making the blonde hide behind Trent in fear.

"Neither is being stranded by a hilariously-named dump," LeShawna told him, standing up from the mattress she had shared with DJ and Candace. "Why aren't we in Toronto?"

"Oh, did I not mention the first part of the challenge?" Chris said with a smirk. "Just letting you fundraise would be _way_ too easy! In order to get to the city to earn the money, you're going to have to get there first!"

"You expect us to _walk_ to Toronto?" Duncan asked, anger clear in his tone. "Seriously?"

"Calm down, you pansies!" Chef barked, shoving Duncan aside. "It's only a couple of miles!"

"I still think it's too far for them to walk there from here," Tamyra said, walking up to Chris and crossing her arms. "I don't see how this contributes to the challenge for the day at all."

"It's mostly just to make Chris happy," the host explained, pointing to himself and smiling.

* * *

"Since when does Chris refer to himself in the third person?" Tamyra asked, tapping her chin. She shrugged. "Maybe he misses Izzy…" She laughed and muttered, "Nah, Chris doesn't have emotions other than sadism… If sadism is an emotion…"

* * *

"And it's not like I'm leaving them empty handed," Chris told her, sticking up for himself. He turned to the competitors, who had all stood up by this point and announced, "Each team will get an item to help them out with their efforts. For yesterday's winners, the Raving Ravens, you'll get…" Marina ran from the plane to Chris, handing him the prize, which he promptly yelled, "**THIS MEGAPHONE**!" into. He took his hand off the button and it made a small squawking sound, causing them all to cringe in pain from the noise. He tossed it to Courtney, who was still recovering from the horrible noise their prize has made.

"What do we get?" Trent asked.

"It's probably half a roll of Mentos, knowing Chris and his consolation prizes," Duncan muttered, finally getting up after Chef shoved him down.

Chris furrowed his eyebrows. "Hey, gimme some credit! I got you something _slightly_ better than that!" Pulling half a roll of mint Mentos out of his pocket, he popped two in his mouth and mumbled, "'Sides, these are _mine _and I'm not sharing…" Tucking the tube back in his pocket, he continued, "Anyway, your prize is…" After pausing for a moment, he looked back at the plane with a frown. "Holly! Mia! Bring that stupid thing out here!"

"He is not stupid!" Marina snapped, offended by that comment. "He's amazing no matter what you say!"

"We're getting a dude?" Selena asked. She paused. "… Is he hot?"

* * *

Selena cringed. "Sorry, Zack… You know how bad I am at thinking before I say stuff!"

* * *

"Unless you're into bestiality, then no," Chris answered, still looking back at the rickety plane. Before he could yell at the two other interns once more, a scruffy-looking goat slowly trotted out with Holly and Mia walking slowly behind it to make sure it didn't run off.

"… A goat?" Marilee mumbled, staring at the creature blankly as Holly handed the end of his rope leash to her.

"Yay!" Zoey cheered, running up to the goat and hugging him around his neck. "I'm gonna name you Chester!" The goat let out a long bleat, as if to greet her.

Marilee rolled her eyes. "We would have been better off with the Mentos."

Chris instinctively put a hand over the shirt pocket where his Mentos were and yelled, "I just told you guys you aren't getting any of them!" He cleared his throat and said, "But both of these prizes have their advantages, that's for sure."

"Yeah, our advantage is we have a convenient walking trash can after we finish our lunch," Marilee grumbled, shooing the goat away as it tried chewing on his rope leash.

"Wait, what are we doing for lunch?" DJ asked. "We can't eat at the mess hall from here."

"I'm glad you asked, DJ," Chris said as he pulled two bills out of his pants pocket, handing one to Geoff and one to Candace. "That should be enough money for lunch…"

Candace smiled one she received the money, but it faltered slightly when she took a better look at it. "Chris? This is only ten bucks."

"I know." Chris grinned his fake, reality-show host grin. "Enjoy."

"Chris, any decent meal costs at least five dollars per person," Courtney stated, not looking pleased. "And we have six people on our team!"

"We have **eight**!" Duncan exclaimed.

Chris gave them both a look and told them, "It's called McDonald's, people. They have a Dollar Menu. Go crazy!"

* * *

"McDonald's?" Jovie fumed. "Do the gluttonous creeps who eat there on a daily basis have any idea how many animals they consume from just one meal there?" She crossed her arms in a huff and grumbled, "I hear they inject meat- beef extract, to be exact- into the fries. The _fries_!" She shakes her head and says, "Then again, I saw that online somewhere… Probably wasn't that reliable of a resource." Jovie tapped her chin, then added, "I guess if you want to eat meat though, it's okay to eat there every once in a while. It's still not at all healthy, but I've been trying to be more open-minded lately. I'm still not that good, as you can see. Like getting Keith booted off and-" After pausing for a moment, she scratched the back of her head and muttered, "How long have I been in here again?"

* * *

As Tamyra and Marina finished setting up the starting line banner over the road they had landed close to, Chris looked back at it, shocked that they had set it up so fast. "Wow, you girls work quick."

"Quick_ly_," Courtney corrected him.

"This is not the time for a grammar lesson, Courtney," Chris muttered, not impressed.

Ignoring Courtney and Chris' last comments, Tamyra got down from the ladder she was on and scratched the back of her head. "Well, we had plenty of time to do it during Jovie's time in the Confession Can…"

"Speaking of which…" Trent turned toward the outhouse Jovie had just exited, which was a few hundred yards away. "Why is there an outhouse with a camera in it in the middle of nowhere?"

"I had a few set up along the road," Chris said, pointing to the road, where little flecks could be seen alongside it. "Y'know, in case you needed to whine about this challenge, and we all know you will…" Everybody slowly, but surely nodded in agreement. "Okay teams, line up!" Each group gathered under the starting banner, and Chris added, "You have sixty seconds to strategize, starting… NOW!"

The Raving Ravens huddled and Gwen said, "I say we start out running at first, then slow down midway so we don't tire ourselves out before the real challenge even starts."

"Good idea, Gwen," Cody encouragingly said, flashing her a big smile.

"I'm still dating Trent, you know," she said, glaring at him as he shrunk back from her glare.

* * *

"Why does Gwen think everything I say to her is some desperate plea to get her to like me a little more?" Cody asked. After mulling over it for a moment, he grumbled, "Because they _are_…" He sighed, then said, "I really need to quit trying so hard to get a girlfriend in the competition, especially one who's dating my friend... I'm just going to end up _losing_ my friends…"

* * *

The Fighting Ferrets had huddled as well, trying to come up with a decent plan. "I think we should just walk," Duncan said. "Toronto's big enough for all of us. No need to bust our humps to get there."

Marilee, who was across from him, tapped her chin and said, "I never thought I'd agree with you, but that's not a bad idea, Caliver…"

Geoff, tongue stuck out in a ridiculous yet thoughtful manner, suddenly thought of something. Separating from the huddle, he ran over to Chester and exclaimed, "I've got a better idea, guys!"

*T*S*R*

"Yeah," Duncan sarcastically said, looking down at his team captain. "This was a _great_ idea, Geoff…"

When the sixty seconds was up, the Raving Ravens had sprinted off while Trent, Geoff and DJ had managed to seat themselves on their goat's back. Marilee was sitting on Geoff's shoulders, Duncan on DJ's, and Selena on Duncan's. Zoey, for some reason, was seated on Trent's head.

"We'll travel faster this way," Geoff reassured him, trying to keep himself from falling off of Chester's back.

DJ tried to say something, but it came out muffled because in order to avoid falling off Chester's back, he had to scoot pretty close to Geoff. That also meant his entire face had to be buried in Marilee's butt, making it uncomfortable for both of them.

Wriggling on Geoff's shoulders a bit, Marilee tried not to think about the location of DJ's face and complained, "With all the time we spent situating ourselves on this walking garbage disposal, we could have _walked_ to Toronto by now!" She grumbled something barely audible to herself, then looked ahead and added, "Besides, the Ravens have already got a good head start…"

"Why can't I ride with you guys?" Grace yelled, currently being lifted off the ground by the goat's teeth, which had a good hold on the back of her orange short-sleeved sweater.

"Sorry," Trent said, his guilt clear in his expression. "There's really no more room…"

"There wasn't any room when DJ got on, but that didn't stop you guys!" She pouted for a moment, then asked, "Why does Zoey get to sit on you and not me?"

"She's allergic to goats," Selena explained, almost making Duncan and DJ teeter over from her sudden movement.

"Since when?" Duncan asked, grunting as she shifted her weight slightly.

Selena leaned down a little to whisper in his ear, "Since I thought it'd be funnier to see someone else's life literally dangling by a thread instead of our sister's…"

Duncan looked up at her, eyebrow raised, then gave her a dismissive grunt and said, "I actually have to agree with you on that one…"

Grace furrowed her eyebrows, not buying it. "Bu-But she hugged him and-"

"Why haven't we started going yet?" Selena called out to Trent, unintentionally interrupting Grace. "I thought you had your motorcycle license!"

Trent, who had been scratching his chin in thought, said, "Driving a motorcycle isn't exactly an equivalent to driving a goat, Selena…"

"I _wish_ we had gotten a motorcycle! This dumb goat's never going to go fast enough to catch them!" Marilee continued, gripping to the sides of Geoff's face to keep herself from falling off.

"His name is _Chester_!" Zoey yelled, almost falling off of Trent's head.

Trent, who had been trying to figure out how to steer a goat, gripped the horns of the goat and tugged back slightly. The smelly animal instantly zipped away, the people on his back gripping tightly to each other to keep themselves from flying off.

* * *

"I never knew goats could run at lightning speed, especially when it's carrying seven people on its back and an eighth one in its mouth," DJ said, extremely confused. He tapped his chin and mused, "I wonder if Bunny could do that…"

* * *

"Do steroids work on goats?" Duncan asked. "That's the only explanation I can come up with…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

"We got such a big head start," Cody said with a grin. "We'll beat them there for sure."

Courtney looked behind her back, seeing nothing but the road and the grass. They had slowed down from a sprint to a walk, seeing how far behind the other team was. "You'd think those idiots would have done what we did and just drag the stupid goat behind them."

Gwen shook her head. "It's not like that goat could actually hold all of them, let alone move with any of them…" Her lips tightened in a straight line and she added, "I hate to agree with Courtney, especially since Trent is on that team, but they really are idiots…" Courtney glared at her for her previous comment about her, but quickly looked ahead at the road again.

"With Geoff as their main captain, what do you expect?" LeShawna asked with a giggle. She looked over at Candace and, with a cringe, said, "No offense, girl."

Rolling her eyes, Candace muttered, "Yeah, adding _that _after saying it makes me feel less offended…" When she tossed her head back to smirk at LeShawna, she couldn't help but notice a small speck on the horizon behind them. "I think a car's coming, you guys…"

Cody looked back too. "Yeah, let's get out of the way. It's going awfully fast…"

As Cody and Candace stepped to the side of the road, Jovie, Gwen, LeShawna and Courtney stopped right smack in the middle of the road, looking at the speck.

"That doesn't look like a car," Gwen mumbled. "Is it a bus or a van or something?"

Squinting her eyes to get a good look at it, LeShawna shook her head. "Uh-uh. It's…"

Once the speck got closer and they could tell what it was, it perplexed all of them to no end.

"Are. You. Serious?" Courtney deadpanned, eyes still widening.

Panicking from the oncoming passengers and their strangely speedy mode of transportation, LeShawna grabbed Gwen and Jovie by their wrists and dragged them behind her as she ran off the road in a flash. Courtney, momentarily frozen in fear, was only able to jump out of the way a mere several seconds before their enemies whizzed by on their goat.

"Go, Chester, go!" Zoey cried out, gripping the sides of Trent's head to avoid flying off.

"Eat our goat's dust, losers!" Duncan shouted, thrusting his fists in the air and almost toppling them all over.

Lifting herself off the ground and dusting herself off, Courtney looked far from pleased. "How could a simple barn animal go at lightning speed with EIGHT people riding on its back?"

Straightening her shoulder length black hair, which had been tousled by the wind after the goat flew by her, Jovie grumbled, "Technically, he was carrying the eighth one in his mouth."

"No time to argue!" Gwen told them as she watched the Fighting Ferrets ride out of sight. "We need to catch up to them, and _fast_…"

*T*S*R*

"This is a pretty nice limo," Tamyra commented, pushing one of the buttons by her seat, making the window by Holly roll down.

Chris proudly grinned. "Best limo we could rent." He crossed his arms behind his head in relaxation and said, "We had to tap into the Arts and Craft budget a bit for it, but the kids aren't going to miss making lame friendship bracelets and crappy heart-shaped bowls in their spare time…"

"I still think it would have been easier for everyone if we had just landed in an airport by Toronto, though."

Chris, pulling a thing of macadamia nuts out of the mini fridge, shrugged and popped a few macadamias into his mouth. "What fun would that be?"

Holly looked up from her _Twilight_ book and out the recently opened window. All she saw was the grass until something whizzed by, stirring up a huge gush of wind in through the window.

"What the heck was that?" Mia asked, fixing her now messed-up hair.

"I think it was the Volturi!" Holly screamed, hugging her book tightly to her chest. A few of them tossed her strange looks.

"Then why did it smell like…" Marina sniffed the air, then waved a hand in front of her nose and finished, "a _barn_?"

*T*S*R*

"Are we there yet?" Zoey asked as Chester slowed down a smidge.

"No, Zoey," Selena said, playing with Duncan's fauxhawk out of boredom.

"Are we there yet?" Zoey asked again after several seconds.

"**No**, Zoey," Duncan irritably told her, batting Selena's hand away from his hair.

"… Are we-"

"NO, ZOEY!" everyone but Zoey yelled, tired of her constant questioning.

She looked shocked for a moment, but then crossed her arms and pouted. "Okay, golly… A _no _woulda been okay…"

*T*S*R*

"Where are we, anyway?" Cody asked, looking at their surroundings as they raced to catch up to the Fighting Ferrets and Chester the goat. "All I see is the road, a bunch of trees, and the grass."

"According to Chris, we're on the outskirts of Toronto… But I'd say we're even farther away from it than that," Gwen panted, squinting to try and find the other team. "They've got such a lead now… God, why didn't _we_ get the stupid goat?"

"Relax," Courtney shakily said, trying to catch her breath, talk and run at the same time. "They may get there before us, but after that, their advantage is completely gone!" She held up the megaphone and continued, "Do you know how useful this will be for fundraising? And those morons will be stuck dragging that stupid goat around for the rest of the day!"

"Okay, could y'all please stop calling Chester stupid?" Jovie asked, looking a bit sad. "He still has feelings!"

"He's a _goat_," Gwen emphasized. Once she saw Jovie's expression was still gloomy, she sighed and said, "Okay, we'll stop…"

* * *

"I can't help but admire Jovie's dedication to her many causes," Gwen admitted. "Sure, it gets irritating at some moments, but it just proves that she has a passion for whatever she puts her mind to. And she's been trying to be more lenient. Still, it shows she can stick to something, which is why I'm glad she's on our team… That and the fact that it means LeShawna's also on the team. That's another perk…"

* * *

"What in tuh name of Aunt Jemima is this here dang ol' camera doin' in this here dang ol' outhouse?" a very hairy man asked in a heavy Southern drawl, lifting his baseball cap slightly and squinting into the lens. "I'm out on tuh road, mindin' mah dang ol' business and this thang's out here on tuh side of tuh goshdarned road. I come in here and try to do mah goshdarned business and this dang ol' camera's tryin' to filmicate tuh who' dang thang!" He smacked the camera and yelled, "Y'all get this thang outta here, ya hur?"

* * *

"Wait, what's that?" LeShawna asked, pointing to something parked on the side of the road, almost hidden in a patch of pine trees. They stopped parallel to it, seeing it was red pickup truck with a few rust patches on it. "We're saved!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Thank goodness," Gwen sighed in relief as she headed over to the truck with the others. "These boots are _not_ made for running miles on end."

"Don't get your hopes up, guys," Courtney said, looking skeptical. "Do you think someone would leave a perfectly good truck out here for no reason? Even if it does work, don't you think the owner would take the keys out of the ignition?"

"Chill, I could always hotwire it," Gwen told her, trying to pry the hood open.

Courtney crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because that isn't, like, morally wrong or anything…"

Gwen looked back at her, eyebrow raised. "Were you just being sarcastic? When are _you_ ever sarcastic?

Candace got between the two, as if she expected them to start fist fighting. "Guys, let's just chill out. This is getting _way_ too heavy!"

LeShawna smirked. "Looks like Geoff's rubbing off on the girl..."

Courtney huffed, but uncrossed her arms and tried not to look angry.

* * *

"Gwen's really getting on my last nerve," Courtney said. "Her attitude is _not_ going to help our team any. And over the past few days, when the cameras were off, I've seen Gwen getting all buddy-buddy with Duncan…" Her eyes widened and she quickly said, "Not that _that _has anything to do with her bugging me! I could care less about that…" She looked to the side for a moment, then covered her face with her hands and whimpered.

* * *

"You know what, whatever. We're desperate. It doesn't look like there's anybody in sight, anyway," Courtney grumbled, while Candace and Cody hopped into the truck bed.

"At least there's plenty of hay back here to keep us comfy!" Candace cheerfully said, taking a handful of it out of the hay bale she had leaned against after taking a seat.

"I call shotgun!" Jovie cried, opening the passenger's side of the truck. When she saw the others eye her, she shrugged and said, "What? My feet are tired! As long as we ain't hurting no animals, stealing ain't that bad!"

"I'm driving!" Courtney said, getting into the driver's side of the truck, seeing that the keys were still there. She turned them in the ignition, signaling to Gwen that there was no need to hotwire it. "No offense, but I wouldn't trust any of you people with my life."

After Jovie scooted next to Courtney, Gwen took the seat by the window and shut the door. After buckling up, she shot a small glare at Courtney. "Yeah, because one of us other licensed drivers might run into something!" she shouted, gesturing to the nothing outside her window.

Courtney grumbled something quietly to herself, but didn't actually say anything to anybody. Once LeShawna had climbed into the bed of the truck, Courtney leaned back and asked through the small open window, "Are you guys going to be okay back there?"

Cody shook the door keeping them from tumbling out and once it was confirmed that it wouldn't open, he gave her a thumbs-up and said, "We'll be okay! If you hurry, we might catch them!"

Nodding at them, Courtney turned back around, braced herself, and slammed down on the gas pedal. As they sped off and most of them screamed for their lives, the hairy country man came out of the Confession Can on the side of the road that had been hidden from the teens by a pine tree. After seeing that his prized truck was missing, he instantly started to fume.

"Where'd mah dang ol' truck go?" he shouted, tossing his hat down on the ground. "Goshdarnit!"

*T*S*R*

"Wait, stop!" Geoff yelled.

Everyone groaned and Marilee glared down at her brother. "Geoff, this is the fourth time we stopped. We are **not **taking another potty break!"

Pouting for a moment, Geoff began, "One, you _know_ I have the bladder of a three year old…"

"My bladder's _way_ bigger than yours!" Grace argued, but she was duly ignored.

"And _cuatro_, that's not it. We're here!" He pointed in front of them, and surely enough, they had finally reached Toronto, as the sign in front of them announced. He quickly added, "Which is good, 'cause I kinda _do_ have to pee again…"

"Gweat," DJ muttered, still being suffocated by Marilee's backside. Since they weren't moving anymore, he scooted back a tad so he could breathe, making sure not to make Selena and Duncan topple over, and politely asked, "Now can you _please_ get your butt out of my face, girl?"

Blushing a bit, Marilee snapped, "Why don't _you_ get your face out of my butt?"

"Okay, sorry!" DJ fearfully squeaked, jumping off Chester as soon as Selena and Duncan climbed off him and onto the first patch of sidewalk.

As Marilee slid off of Geoff's shoulders and took DJ's original place, the three teammates that weren't still on the goat started screaming and ran to cower behind them and the barn animal. "What are you guys screaming abo-AAAAAAAH!" Once Trent turned his head around, he saw what had caused their sudden fear, that same fear striking the others.

A rusty old pickup truck was speeding toward them, but the tires suddenly started to squeal violently. Swerving to the right, the truck came to a harsh stop mere inches away from the Ferrets and Chester.

"Uh… I don't have to pee anymore," Geoff quietly said, his eyes still filled with fright. Even though they were both still freaked out by their near-death experience, Trent and Marilee scooted as far away from him as possible.

* * *

"Courtney didn't trust _**US**_ to drive?" Gwen yelled, her hair still a mess from the wind blowing through it. "She drove like a freaking _maniac_! I would have torn her a new one after we stopped if I hadn't hurt my throat from screaming at her so much during the ride there…"

* * *

"I saw my _whole life _flash before my eyes!" Cody screamed, hay stuck in his disheveled hair. "The time Bobby Williams stole my snack when I was in kindergarten, every time I was tricked into doing the entire basketball team's science homework in the sixth grade, even the time last fall when Carly Dillon turned me down for Homecoming!" After calming down for a moment, he thought over everything he saw and muttered, "Wow. My life kinda sucks, doesn't it?"

* * *

"Just to make things clear, I _never_ drive that fast," Courtney said, fixing her messy hair. "But we were seriously behind. Like Cody said, I _had _to hurry up! It's not like there was anybody else on the road." She thought it over for a moment and said, "Well, except for some limousine we had to pass… And I did _not_ appreciate the hand gesture that limo driver gave me!"

* * *

As the Ravens got out of the truck and half of them shook hay off of them, the same limo the truck-jackers had raced by stopped by the group. Chris was the first to step out of it, the interns following shortly after. "Wow. I'm actually impressed," he said. "You beat us here…" He shrugged and said, "Then again, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you got here before us…" He glared at the driver's window and snapped, "considering our limo driver's as slow as molasses!"

"Oh, hush up!" Chef, dressed in a driver's uniform, said as he rolled down the window Chris yelled at. "You wanna crash like those fools in that dumpy old pickup truck probably did?"

The Raving Ravens exchanged glances and awkwardly stepped in front of their stolen vehicle to make sure Chef Hatchet didn't see it.

"Anyway, you know what to do," Chris told the group. "Raise money any way you can. Sing or dance on the streets, get a job in the city for the day, or even open a kissing booth…" He tapped his chin, deep in thought. "Y'know, that kissing booth isn't a bad idea. It'd be great for the drama factor!" As the contestants rolled their eyes, Chris announced, "Let the fundraising begin!"

* * *

… Y'all knew I'd have to get the goat from my pic in this fic sooner or later xD ((It's on my DeviantArt page, if you haven't seen it))

I have no idea what a hillbilly is doing in Canada with his pickup truck, so don't even ask. Just enjoy. And it's weird that for someone who lives in Kentucky, I have no clue how to write a southern drawl… Meh, I live in a mostly hick-free part. Don't blame me… :P

I feel like he needs a name. I guess Earl works… *shrug*

And for those who read my dA journal, I lied. The special guest(s?) will be in the next chapter, not this one. ((Cuz in case you were wondering, no, it wasn't Earl xD))

Also, I'm kinda mean to Cody in this one. Sowwy :c

But what will happen? Who will raise the most money for JDRF? Will Chester eat all the FF's earnings? Will Earl get revenge on the RR's for stealing his dang ol' truck? Find out next time in _Total Sibling Rivalry!_


	41. Day 17, Part 2: Or a Lot

**A/N: **Frank, you were the only one who was right. You'll see what I mean…

YOU'LL ALL SEE.

Tee hee. That was creepy. ^_^

* * *

"Before we begin, let me explain something. This is the Confession Booth," Chris explained to the camera, gesturing to the telephone booth he was standing in. "Bringing an outhouse to the city would have been tacky. But a phone booth can also be used as a bathroom, so it won't be foreign to our campers!"

* * *

"This temporary confessional sucks," Gwen grumbled, crossing her arms. "There's no place to sit and it smells like a trucker's armpit! And people can see through these glass walls, so it's not like it's private." A teenager walking by looked in, saw the camera, then pressed his face on the glass and waved. Gwen noticed this going on behind her and smacked the glass, scaring him off.

* * *

"Does anyone even _use_ telephone booths anymore?" Cody asked. "Everyone has cell phones!" He tapped his chin and added, "Then again, I guess that's how Chris was able to reserve these just for us…"

* * *

fAs the other team ran off and Chris, the interns and Chef skedaddled, the Fighting Ferrets were trying to decide which tactic to use. "I say we each split into groups of two and scatter around to raise the money," Marilee suggested. "Two heads are better than one, after all." She tapped her chin, looking at her group. "Selena will be with Trent, Caliver with Geoff, Zoey with Grace, and…" She noticed DJ and said, "I guess that leaves you, me, and Chester, DJ."

"Whoa whoa whoa, Anderson," Duncan said, holding his hands up. "Who says _you_ get to choose who we go with?"

Marilee crossed her arms and glared at him. "I'm the co-captain, so I'm _co-ordering _you to go with Geoff! Why don't you want to go with him?"

"Yeah dude, I thought we were bros," Geoff said sadly.

"We are," Duncan said, frustrated. "I just meant I should at least get to _choose _to go with Geoff."

Marilee rolled her eyes and grumbled, "Have it your way, dude… So who do you choose?"

Duncan patted Geoff on the back and said, "I choose my bro Geoff."

"Sweet!" the party boy exclaimed.

"That was productive," Marilee grumbled under her breath. "Okay, break!"

As Duncan and Geoff wandered off, the others stayed behind. Trent was about to walk off with Selena, but remembered something. "Wait…" He stopped Selena and said, "Zoey and Grace should come with us. They are our sisters, after all."

"But I wanna stay with Chester!" Zoey sadly said, running over to hug Chester.

Grace crossed her arms and half-yelled, "I knew you weren't allergic!"

"We could always take Chester with us," Selena suggested.

"I don't really trust you with a goat," Marilee said, eyes narrowed and eyebrow raised. "You plus goat equals nothing but trouble."

Selena thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "I'm not a math whiz, but that sounds about right…"

"They can stick with us," DJ said, patting Selena and Trent on their backs.

"It's not like we can go that far with this stu-" She remembered Zoey preferred that people call him by the name she gave him, and corrected herself, "I mean _Chester_."

Selena smiled and said, "Thanks, you guys! You're the best!" She crouched down to Zoey's height, gave her a kiss on the cheek and told her, "Be safe. Try not to let him eat your clothes, okay?"

"I'll try!" Zoey said, giving her a hug before her sister stood back up.

Trent looked down at Grace and told her, "Be good, okay?" She innocently smiled at him and nodded, and he bent down and ruffled her hair a bit. He turned back to DJ and smiled. "Thanks, Deej. You're a lifesaver. Take good care of her, okay?"

DJ gave him a thumbs up. "You can count on me, bro!"

As Trent and Selena walked off, Grace, trying to hide her frustration, asked, "Wait, what are _we_ supposed to do?"

"Yeah, how can we make monies?" Zoey innocently asked. "We're just little kids."

DJ thought it over, then said, "Y'know, when I was around your guys' age, I did something that made me some pretty good coin."

"What?" Grace asked, eyebrow raised.

DJ looked at the store behind them, seeing it was a convenience store. Next to it, he saw an empty lot with something that was currently under construction, which was obvious from all the planks of wood and buckets of paint sitting in front of it. As he stroked his facial hair in thought, a surprisingly devious smirk appeared on his lips.

*T*S*R*

"A lemonade stand?" Grace questioned.

"Yeah," DJ said with a nod. "It's a great way for kids to make money!"

While the construction crew had been on a break, DJ and Marilee managed to swipe some wooden boards, nails, a hammer and some red paint from the construction site. Despite Marilee's lack of knowledge on any type of construction work, she had managed to help DJ make a moderately nice stand with a sign above it that read, **Lemonade, $1 **with some of the paint. DJ had used the five dollars he had in his pocket to buy some powdered lemonade and a plastic pitcher to hold it in, with water from the water fountain inside the store. Marilee managed to find a few loonies in her dress pocket and used them to buy plastic cups for the girls and their drinks.

"Besides, it's hot out and this will probably be the cheapest drink in the city," Marilee explained. "People will swarm this stand… In the mean time…" She looked down at Chester, who she had tied to a nearby light pole, and smirked. "I thought of something that we can do with you…"

*T*S*R*

After Gwen and LeShawna decided to work together and ran off to think of ideas, Courtney, Cody and Jovie had gone back to the bed of their hijacked truck to think. Candace was digging around in the glove department in the front, looking at random pieces of paper inside it. Whether she was doing it to find inspiration or just out of boredom was unknown to the others.

"Ooooh, I found the truck's owner's drivers license!" she yelled through the open window to her friends. She read, "Earl J. Boyd, thirty seven years old, six foot two, weighs- Whoa! A LOT!" Nobody responded, because none of them really cared.

"We could do that kissing booth Chris suggested," Cody said.

Courtney shook her head. "I'm not going to degrade myself like that."

"And your widdle Dunkie-cakes would get mad at you," Candace said, peeking out the window with a smirk. Courtney softly glared at her, but said nothing to argue against it, since she didn't want to lie.

Jovie looked around at the billboards around where Courtney parked the truck, trying to think of something to raise money. A certain billboard caught her eye. "Hey, look at that!" She pointed to a black and white billboard and read aloud, "Now Hiring… Flexible hours, large paychecks. That would be perfect!"

"That sounds fun!" Candace exclaimed, jumping out the open driver's door and bouncing toward the door to the bed. "Let's go!"

"Wait a second!" Courtney exclaimed, holding her hands up. "You guys don't even know what the job is! It could be selling pirated DVDs, o-or some sort of _assassin_ job!" When they gave her doubtful looks, she argued, "Well, you never know!"

"Yeah, we certainly will never know until we check it out," Jovie pointed out, then looked at Candace. "Is there a pen and paper up there, hun?"

The cheerleader went back to the glove department and dug around before calling out, "I found a pen, but the only paper I could really write on is the back of this receipt from Hooters… Wow, Earl ordered a _lot_ of chicken wings…"

"Good enough," Jovie said, cringing at the mention of the appendages of poor, defenseless chickens. "Write down the address on that billboard." As Candace did so and Jovie hopped out the back of the truck, she looked back at her remaining two teammates and asked, "You guys coming?"

"I don't think it's a good idea," Cody said, leaning on one of the many bales of hay. "I'll stick with Courtney."

"Wise choice," Courtney said confidently.

"Suit yourselves," Candace said with a shrug, tossing the pen back on the driver's seat and heading toward the street that had been on the billboard, Jovie following.

*T*S*R*

"What should we do?"

Trent looked at Selena, unsure of how to answer that question. "No idea. If we had our guitars, we could play on the streets for money…"

Selena sheepishly looked down. "I'm not good enough to play in front of people yet…"

"You've been getting a lot better," Trent told her, trying to boost her guitar-playing confidence. He looked up, noticing that they were getting close to the CN Tower and continued, "Besides, you don't have to be a pro to play on the streets. You just have to know how to strum a halfway decent chord."

"Oooh, I can do that!" Selena said excitedly. Her joy quickly faded and she grumbled, "Too bad we didn't think to bring our guitars…"

"Shin, you're the worst boyfriend in the entire history of boyfriends!" The two turned around to find that a few yards away, a girl with fiery red hair in her early twenties was arguing with an Asian guy about the same age as her. Both had guitars but the guy, assumedly Shin, has his in a case.

"Casey, you're so full of crap! I regret the day I ever asked you out! It's been nothing but a living hell since then!" Shin yelled, almost shaking from his anger.

Casey gasped, then glared daggers at him. "If that's how you feel, then maybe we should break up!" She glared down at her guitar and yelled, "I don't even want this stupid thing anymore!"

"Why?" Shin questioned, still fuming. "Because _I _gave it to you?" He huffed and held up his guitar case. "Well that's just freaking great, because I don't want this stupid guitar or this stupid case that _you_ gave _me_!"

"Fine!" Casey screamed, storming off in Trent and Selena's direction.

"Fine!" Shin yelled, following her.

"_Fine_!"

"**Fine**!"

Casey walked up to Selena and practically threw her guitar at her. "Here! Have a stupid guitar!" She stomped off soon after, but not before shooting one last glare at her ex-boyfriend.

"Here!" Shin shoved his guitar, case and all, into Trent's chest, making him cough. "Have a stupid guitar _and_ a stupid guitar case!" He dug around in his pocket and threw several plastic triangles in Trent's face. "And have some stupid guitar picks!" He stormed off in the opposite direction that Casey went in, leaving Trent and Selena alone with their new guitars and their confusion.

As Selena looked at Casey storm off and Trent looked at Shin, Trent mumbled, "That was _really_ convenient…"

*T*S*R*

"Do you know what we should do?" Cody asked Courtney as they walked into one of the many squares in Toronto.

Courtney looked around, but sighed in defeat. "No clue…" They saw several kiosks as they walked through, all of them belonging to vendors who tried to sell something or other to everybody who passed by.

Cody stopped at one in particular, seeing that it sold various souvenirs. He grabbed one of the snow globes, gave it a good shake, then sat it back down.

"Cody, we're trying to _make_ money, not spend it!" Courtney reminded him.

"I know, I was just looking," Cody told her. "I think better when I'm doing stuff…"

The young, jovial owner of that specific kiosk approached the two, a huge grin on his face. "Hey there! See anything you like?"

Cody shrugged, trying on a pair of cool shades. "I'm just looking…"

"And we're _not_ buying anything," Courtney sternly said.

The kiosk owner completely ignored Courtney and kept his attention on Cody. "Okay, just let me know if you need anything!" Before he could head back to the stool he had been seated on before, a beeping noise rang from his pants pocket. He whipped out his cell phone and answered, "Y'ello?" He paused, then grinned. "Maggie, what a ple-" He paused again, his grin fading. "Honey, slow down…" Even Courtney and Cody could hear Maggie's wails, which peaked their interest in the call. The kiosk vendor's eyes widened and he screamed, "WHAT? B-But you weren't due for another two weeks!" He grabbed a fistful of his short blonde hair and nervously said, "Oh God, oh God, oh- I'll meet you at the hospital!"

He shoved his phone back in his pocket and was about to run off until Cody asked, "Dude, is everything okay?"

"My wife just went into labor!" the blonde screamed, still clenching some of his hair in his fist. "I can't miss the birth of my first child! I've got to leave and- Oh God, my stand!"

"What about it?" Cody asked.

"I can't just close it!"

"Why not?" Courtney skeptically asked. "I think this is a situation where it would be okay to close a bit early!"

"No, you don't understand!" He started to pace, clenching the rest of his hair in his other fist. "I missed too many days of work going with my wife to her Lamaze classes. My boss said if I miss one more day of work this summer, I'm _fired_! I can't lose my job, I have a family to support!"

Courtney raised an eyebrow, letting a smirk crawl onto her lips. "Sounds like a sticky situation." She pointed to Cody and said, "My friend and I are in a bit of a fix ourselves. We have to raise money for a challenge on a reality show we're on. You've watched Total Drama Island before, right?"

The kiosk guy blinked. "No."

Courtney stared at him, then shook her head. "I guess you wouldn't have, considering you're old enough to have a wife and kid… But I have a proposition for you. If you'll agree to it, we'll _all _win…"

*T*S*R*

"This is turning out better than I thought!"

"Told you this was a good way to rake in money!"

After Trent had removed his free guitar from the case, he sat the open case on the street corner they were on so any passerby could leave a tip for the two as they played some smooth tunes. Well, Trent did a lot of the work. Beginner Selena's simple chord strumming in the background did seem to add something, though.

A few girls who passed by recognized Trent from Total Drama Island and instantly started to squeal their fangirl heads off. They would beg him to take photos with them, which he was more than happy to do… for five bucks per picture. Nobody wanted to take their picture with Selena, obviously, since the second season hadn't started airing yet. She certainly didn't mind, though.

* * *

"Those Trent fangirls are _insane_!" Selena yelled. "Especially this one blonde chick named… Kelly, maybe? But Trent practically had to _pry _her off of him after she took, like, twenty pictures with him. And she kept babbling about 'Trindsay'…" She scratched her head and mumbled, "Maybe that was her sister's name or something…"

* * *

After the huge swarms of fans would fade away, every once in a while, Trent would throw out a lyric or two about charity and diabetes so people would feel more compelled to tip. Selena was getting ready to take a crack at singing something, but Trent quickly stopped playing and slapped a hand over her mouth.

Selena pried it off and shot him a glare. "Um, what was _that _for?"

"Uh…" Trent looked down at his feet, trying to think of a good lie. "I just don't think both of us should sing… It might confuse people."

Selena raised an eyebrow. "That wouldn't even confuse _me_…"

Trent looked away from her again, biting his lip.

* * *

"I've heard Selena sing recently. Imagine two cats fighting each other on a chalkboard, and then imagine stabbing both your ears with rusty knives. _That's_ what it's like to listen to it!" Trent exclaimed, cringing from the memory. "But it's not like I could _tell_ her that!"

* * *

"Uh… Um…" Trent tried to think of another good excuse, but failed.

Selena leaned her guitar on a nearby light post and crossed her arms, shooting him a stern look. "I can see what this is about, Trent."

"Uh… You do?"

"Of course!" She smirked and smugly said, "You're afraid I'll sing better than you and overshadow you, aren't you?"

"… YES, that's it!" Trent sighed in relief, then playfully punched her and said, "You're too smart for me!"

Proudly grinning, Selena said, "Thank you!" Placing her hands on her hips, she added, "But because you're my buddy and I don't want to make you feel bad, I won't sing. Still, you could have just told me the truth in the first place. You really shouldn't patronize me like that, 'cause I'm more mature than people assume."

"Very true," Trent said with a nod.

Before she could pick up her guitar again, she saw somebody shove a cart by them, making her eyes widen in child-like delight. "Oooooh, balloons!" She tugged on Trent's shirt sleeve and rapidly pointed to the cart. "Can I have a balloon, Trent? Can I? Can I? Pretty, pretty please with, like, a thousand billion cherries on top?"

Smirking, Trent pulled a dollar out of their money case and handed it to her. "Go crazy, kid."

"Yippie!" Selena snatched the dollar and ran to catch the cart while yelling, "I want a red one!"

*T*S*R*

"Come on…" LeShawna lightly slapped her forehead, trying to think. "This is a big ol' city. There's got to be someway to earn money here…"

"I wish I had brought my sketchpad," Gwen muttered, sitting down on a park bench in the middle of the city square they were in. She rested her chin in her palm and said, "I could have charged people for drawings of their kids or dogs or something."

"Yeah, that's a shame," LeShawna agreed, sitting next to her. "But it's not like a sketchpad and pencil are just going to fall out of the sky…"

Seconds after she said that, Gwen looked up at the sky, but only saw a few puffy white clouds. Not a falling sketchpad in sight.

LeShawna raised an eyebrow at her best friend. "Did you seriously think that would work, girl?"

"No," Gwen sighed. "But even pessimists can be optimistic every now and again."

As they continued to think of a way to earn money, LeShawna couldn't help but notice several street performers nearby, doing all sorts of amusing things. After watching the juggler add a seventh steak knife to his act, she sprung up from her slouching position and cried, "That's it! We'll be street performers!"

Gwen, still sitting on the bench, raised an eyebrow. "And what do you expect us to do? Swallow swords? I can barely swallow Chef's meatloaf."

"We can be break dancers," the sister told Gwen, still smiling. "People tip them like nothing else!"

Gwen looked at her, then looked down and grumbled, "I don't know… I'd probably lose my Goth status completely."

"Girl, dancing ain't about who you are or how you look! It's all about what's inside you," LeShawna said, placing a hand over her heart. "It's about expressing yourself and just letting all your emotions out! That's why you draw, isn't it?"

Gwen thought it over, then sat up straight and slowly said, "Yeah. I guess you're right…" After sighing, she added, "Okay, I'll do it. We _do_ need the money."

"That's my girl!" LeShawna exclaimed, gathering Gwen in a bone-crushing hug. After letting her go and she took some deep breaths, she looked her blue and black-haired friend over and said, "But we need to get you some flyer threads first. A corset and mini skirt are _all_ wrong."

Gwen frowned. "I thought it didn't matter how you look."

LeShawna nodded. "Yeah, how you _look_. Not how you _dress_."

"I already got my hopes up for art supplies to fall out of the sky," Gwen pointed out, crossing her arms. "I'm not expecting 'fly threads' to rain down."

"I guess you've got a point… Maybe we-"

"_¡Mierda santa!_"a girl with a slight Hispanic accent exclaimed, running up to Gwen and LeShawna with a huge grin. "You're Gwen and LeShawna, from TDI!"

After getting over the initial shock of being screamed at, LeShawna gave her a smile and said, "That's us! What's up, girl?"

"_¡Ay, caramba!_ I cannot believe this is really happening!" She shook both of their hands and excitedly introduced herself. "I-I'm Rosalinda, and you two are my favorite contestants on the show! You're such strong and independent chicas; you're really an inspiration to tons of girls!"

"Seriously?" Rosalinda nodded, and Gwen couldn't help but crack a smile. "Thanks!"

"I love how you two would stick it to Heather, that little _perra_!" The Latina girl clenched her fists and narrowed her eyes. "Ooooh, I hate her so much! My _idiota_ of a brother Alejandro thinks she's hot!" She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "How could anyone think _**she's**_ hot?"

"She's not so bad now," Gwen said. "And her hair grew back, so she's much prettier than she was when she was bald."

LeShawna was about to add something to that, but took a second to take in Rosalinda's appearance. Her dark, wavy hair was sticking out of a black beanie, and she was wearing a white midriff t-shirt under an open blue zip-up hoodie, along with dark skinny jeans and a pair of converse.

"Hey, Rosalinda," LeShawna began, a sly expression on her face. "How would you like to do us a favor?"

Gasping, Rosalinda exclaimed, "Are you kidding me? Of course! What is it? I'd do anything!"

LeShawna shot Gwen a glance, making the Goth raise an eyebrow. "I don't like that look…"

*T*S*R*

"I don't think it's possible for me to care less about _this_ challenge."

"C'mon, dude, it could be fun!"

"Geoff, video games are fun. Vandalism is fun. Covering yourself in fake blood and giving a bunch of five year olds seizures is fun. Charity work is _not_ fun."

"It still won't be that ba-" Geoff stopped mid-sentence and mid-step and gave Duncan a weird look. "You gave _five year olds _seizures?"

Duncan nodded, stopping along with his friend. "Yeah. It was funny."

"And you didn't feel _bad_? I mean, your little sister…"

"I wouldn't pull that around Zoey," Duncan told him, crossing his arms. "_Selena_ maybe, but not Zoey. Besides, she's _four_."

Geoff rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Big difference… Where'd she go, anyway?"

"Selena sent me a text a few minutes ago. DJ's watching her."

"Oh…"

"I say we forget about the stupid challenge," the delinquent said, sitting on a park bench in front of a car dealership for fancy cars. "Seriously, who cares?"

"Candace probably does," Geoff answered, sitting next to him. He cleared his throat and maturely said, "And I think it's important to help out a cause that's so close to her because-"

"Dude, you just want to raise a bunch of money so Candace will let you slide into second base."

"… That's so not it! There are lots of reasons, and that's not one of them!"

* * *

"It's probably the _only_ one," Duncan said with a smirk.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the car dealership building, a large, tan man with hair that almost had a purple sheen to it tugged on his tightly knotted tie and slammed his hand on the table. The employees sitting at the table all looked skittish. "Dang it, people, we aren't making enough!"

A brunette woman nervously said, "But Mr. Valdez, our profits last month were off the charts and-"

"That's still not good enough!" he screamed, making the woman shrink back in her seat. "We need to attract more customers, and the commercial I've scripted will do just that. We've got the cameras and everything, but we still need someone to endorse the cars in it…"

"Why don't you do it, sir?" A man with Coke bottle glasses asked.

Mr. Valdez scoffed, then told him, "Steve, you always break the 'there are no stupid questions' rule… We need someone that young folk want to see. Today's youth always fritter their money away on something or other, so they might as well fritter it here." He crossed his arms and looked at his employees. "So, does anyone here know a celebrity?"

Nobody said a word.

Mr. Valdez sighed. "I thought so…" Before he could add anything else, he heard the person sitting at the very end of the table started giggling, making a vein in his neck pop out. "Bert!"

The man looked up from his lap, not laughing anymore. He sneakily pulled an ear bud out of his right ear and looked at his boss guiltily.

"What's in your lap?"

"M-My iPod Touch…"

"And what are you doing with it?"

"… W-Watching Total Dr-Drama Island…"

Mr. Valdez raised a bushy eyebrow, then asked, "That reality show my daughter's obsessed with?"

Bert sheepishly shrugged and mumbled, "Well, it's no wonder she's obsessed with it. It's hilarious and-"

"If only we could get one of _those_ idiots in our commercial!" the car salesman exclaimed, rubbing his temples. "Teens and young adults everywhere would shovel out _thousands_ for these cars!"

Steve looked out the large window he was seated by, then pointed to the bench in front of the lot. "Hey, isn't that two of those kids from it?"

Mr. Valdez narrowed his eyes at his employee and said, "Steve, you need to get some better glasses." As he walked toward the window, he exclaimed, "Two international reality show stars wouldn't just conveniently be bumming around outside our lot…" As he looked out the window, his jaw dropped and he muttered, "Sweet Maria, that really _is_ them…" He snapped his fingers at the brunette woman and yelled, "Bring me my check book! I have a feeling this won't be cheap…"

*T*S*R*

"We'll win for sure!"

"Yeah, considering we're making the guy give us today's profits, I'd say we will," Cody said, almost unsurely.

"And everything that was already in the cash register!" she proudly proclaimed, handing a customer her Toronto magnet and taking her money. "That already gave us over three hundred dollars! By the time we sell all this stuff, we could get in the thousands!"

"But the guy's going to have a family to support soon," Cody said with guilt. "It seems kind of mean to take all this money away from his wife and kid."

Courtney shot him a look as she shoved the money into the register. "Taking money away from a good cause is okay if you're giving it to another."

As a girl approached Cody, interested in purchasing an 'I Heart Toronto' t-shirt, he sighed and rang up her order. "Okay…"

*T*S*R*

"Goat rides, come get a goat ride!" Marilee called out, pointing to the sign that DJ made out of the spare wood and paint from the lemonade stand. It read, **Goat Rides, $5 a Ride **and was leaning haphazardly on a shrub by the construction site.

"Are you sure this a good idea?" DJ asked, looking extremely nervous. "This might be against some sort of animal abuse law or something…"

Marilee raised her eyebrow at him. "This thing just carried our entire team, like, a million miles without breaking a sweat! How is letting a toddler or two ride it going to hurt it more than _that_?"

"Well," DJ rubbed the back of his neck and continued, "we weren't using the goat for profit then, so I just figured-"

"Just shut up and get people interested, you big goat hugger!" Marilee barked at him.

DJ shrieked and jumped into the shrub for protection, knocking his sign over completely.

The blonde raised her eyebrow once again and said, "What do you think you're doing? You act like you're scared of me or something."

"Um…" DJ was still hidden in the shrub, but you could see his eyes shining through the leaves. "I kind of am…"

"I'm not scary!" she screamed, only scaring him more and making Chester bleat in fright.

"Not scary-looking, sure," DJ told her, still not coming out of his green haven. "It's just you… sound really harsh most of the time and you're… kind of aggressive," he squeaked, like he was too afraid to say it.

She gave him a look, then shut her eyes and scoffed. "That's just silly. I'm totally not aggressive…" Once she opened her eyes, she saw a African Canadian boy about the age of eight walk by her, holding five dollars in his hand. "Hey! Little boy!" she cried out, even though he was right in front of her. "You want to take a ride on this goat?" She pointed to Chester, who was still tied to the pole and was currently eating out of a nearby trashcan and added, "It'd only be five bucks."

The boy looked at the goat, then back at Marilee. "I'm sorry, lady. My mommy told me I have to use this to buy her a slice of pie at her favorite bakery while she shops at that store over there," he said, pointing to the store across the street.

Marilee put on a sugary sweet smile and crouched down to the boy's level. "Y'know, I think Mommy would much happier if you spent that money on something you could enjoy instead of something that would go straight to her thighs. Do you know what I like to do when I want to keep _my_ mommy from stuffing her face with pie?" She yanked on the rope, pulling Chester out of the trashcan. "I take a magical, but reasonably-priced ride on my good friend, Chestnut!"

"Chester," DJ reminded her, still hiding in the bush.

"Same difference," Marilee mumbled. She grinned at the boy once again, even though he looked a little scared. "C'mon, sweetheart, she won't be mad!" She held out her hand and continued, "Just give Mari the money and I'll let you have a little fun…"

The boy looked at her hand, then back at her. He slowly started walking away, then started running and crying, "Stranger danger! Stranger danger!"

Shooting back up, she glared as he sprinted and screamed, "That little brat! How dare he not do what I say!" She ran after him, dragging Chester behind her and screamed, "Come back here and ride my friggin' goat!"

After she was gone, DJ finally poked his head out of the shrub and said, "That's not going to end well…" He climbed out the bush and walked over to Zoey and Grace's lemonade stand. "You guys doing okay?"

"Yeah, look at all the monies we got!" Zoey exclaimed, holding up a large fistful of dollars.

DJ smiled. " Hey, that's pretty good! …Wait, where's Grace at?"

The dark-haired girl handed another customer a lemonade, took his dollar, then told DJ, "I think she had to go tinkle."

"So she wandered off… _by herself_?" DJ cried, looking like he was going to faint. "Oh no, oh no! She could get hurt!"

"How could she get hurt in the potty?" Zoey asked, confused. She scratched her head. "Maybe if she fell in…" She cringed and mumbled, "I did that once…"

* * *

"Man, Trent's gonna kill me!" DJ screamed, hugging himself. "I promised him I'd take good care of her! Losing her in a city as huge as this one is _not_ good!" He was silent for a moment, but then gasped, "Zoey! I left her out there alone! What if she wanders off, too! If someone as cool as _Trent _would kill me, Duncan would resurrect me and kill me, too! Then he'd bring me back to life _again_ and kill me _again_!" He ran out of the Confession Booth so quickly, he knocked the camera over and made the screen go to static.

* * *

*T*S*R*

"I hate you, LeShawna."

"No, you don't."

"True… But I certainly hate _this_."

Gwen, now dressed in Rosalinda's clothes, crossed her arms and glowered a bit. Rosalinda, now dressed in Gwen's Goth attire, sadly said, "Sorryyou don't like my clothes…"

"It's fine, honey," LeShawna said, patting the Latina on the back. "It may not be her style, but she needed some street clothes. Thanks again."

"_¡No problema_!" She posed and asked, "Do I pull the Goth look off?"

Gwen looked at her, then said, "Not really. I hate to sound racist, but you usually have to be pretty pale to pull it off, and that's pretty much impossible for you to do."

Rosalinda shrugged, still smiling. "Meh, I don't wanna be Goth, anyway. It works for you, but it's not for me. Still, I don't mind being semi-Goth for an afternoon. Can I stick around and watch you guys dance?"

"Sure, girl," LeShawna said, nodding. "We'll need you to stick around so you can swap clothes afterward, anyway."

"Great!" Rosalinda said, clapping happily. "And feel free to call me Rose. Or Rosa. Or Linda. Or Lin. Or Rosalinda. Or-"

"I think you've covered all the bases," Gwen said, interrupting her. She turned back to LeShawna with a sigh and said, "Let's just do this…"

LeShawna rolled her eyes. "That's the spirit."

*T*S*R*

It was getting slow at Courtney and Cody's newly acquired souvenir stand, so they were casually leaning against it when Cody asked, "Do you think Jovie and Candace ever found their job?"

"Probably," Courtney said, batting lightly at the small wind chimes next to her. "If it really did pay a lot, it must be boring…"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, somewhere in a grimy alley, Candace and Jovie had found the place where they got their temporary job. It certainly _did_ pay a lot… However, it was far from easy.

Candace was sitting on top of a barbed wire fence that cut the alley in half, trying to help Jovie climb up. It was rather difficult, considering Jovie was holding a locked metallic suitcase in one of her hands. Both of them had disheveled hair and some smudges of dirt could be found all over them.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this!" Jovie cried out, struggling to lift herself up.

"It's not that bad!" Candace said, grabbing the suitcase and tossing it to the bottom of the other side of the fence. "I thought digging that suitcase up was pretty fun!"

"And getting chased by those mobsters was fun for you, too?"

"… It was good cardio, at least!"

Jovie grunted, then reached her hand toward Candace, who grabbed it and hoisted her up. Both fell over the side, landing into a pile of garbage bags.

"Ugh!" Jovie exclaimed, rubbing her head. "At least these were closed…"

"That's the spirit!" Candace exclaimed, helping Jovie stand up.

"But look how much paper is in this one!" Jovie yelled, holding one of the clear bags up. "That's just being downright lazy!" She started untying the knot on the top and said, "I'm gonna sort this out…"

Candace, finally losing her optimism, slapped her forehead and told her, "There's no time for that! Big Daddy said we have to meet Paulie at the abandoned warehouse in ten minutes! After that, Paulie'll give us some new clothes and let us take a shower and then we have to deliver his package to that Italian restaurant to-"

"Is that a gate door?" Joie angrily asked, interrupting her.

Candace raised both eyebrows in confusion, turned around and shoved part of the fence, which swung open instantly. She turned back to Jovie, who crossed her arms and looked very unimpressed. "Eh heh… Climbing is a great way to build upper body strength?"

"Oh, I'll show you upper body strength!" Jovie threatened, pushing up the sleeve of her bright green t-shirt.

"Eep!" Candace squeaked, hiding behind her hands. However, it wasn't necessary, because Jovie instantly calmed down.

"Sorry," Jovie sighed, starting to walk to the end of the alley. "I'm not usually like this."

"I know," Candace said with a nod as she picked up the suitcase and walked with her.

"This show's making me go against everything I stand for!" Jovie cried, sitting on the curb sadly. Candace sat down next to her. "First there was the unnecessary violence yesterday, now I'm working for the freaking _Mob_!" She sniffled as she covered her face with her hands.

Candace's eyes softened and she wrapped an arm around her friend. "Hey, it's okay. Big Daddy and his brothers aren't technically the _Mob_, so…" She sighed and said, "Okay, so they all pretty much are the Torontonian Mob. Still, you're being too hard on yourself. And that thing with Keith was _not_ your fault, and it wasn't because you went against your morals. Any one of us could have shot him."

"But I was the one who did it…"

"Still, Marilee isn't that upset. I mean, she _was_, but she got over it quickly. I'll bet if she knew, she wouldn't be that mad. Look…" Candace gave her a squeeze and asked, "Just try not to be so hard on yourself, okay? And try to have a little more fun? For me?"

Jovie uncovered her face and took a look at Candace. As she wiped away a few tears, she was about to answer, but hear some strange noises. Turning her head back toward the alley, her eyes widened and she screamed, "Holy crap, those thugs released the hounds!"

Candace looked in fright as the dogs were getting closer, yelled a word that would have even made Big Daddy blush, and ran off with Jovie and the suitcase. The dogs persistently ran after them, with the enemy mobsters close behind.

*T*S*R*

"You want _us_ to do a commercial for _you_?" Duncan asked in shock.

"That's right!" Mr. Valdez said with a nod. "What do you say?"

"Sounds sweet!" Geoff exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air. "How much do we get?"

"How does two thousand sound?" the purple-haired man asked, pulling out his checkbook and a pen.

Geoff gaped, then asked, "Are you kidding? We'll-"

Duncan slapped a hand over his mouth and continued, "walk unless we get at least _five_ thousand."

Mr. Valdez tapped his chin with his pen. "I don't know… Forty five hundred?"

Duncan pretended to think it over, then nodded and shook the man's hand. "Deal."

"Great!" He wrote the check up and tucked the book back in his pocket. "You'll receive it after the commercial's finished. I'll just get you your scripts…"

He walked back into the building they had been in front of, while Geoff turned to give Duncan a confused glance. "I thought you didn't care about this challenge."

"I don't," Duncan admitted. "But if _you_ take all the credit for earning all that cash, Candace will probably build a freaking shrine to you."

Geoff grinned, mockingly punching Duncan in the arm. "You're the best, dude."

As Mr. Valdez emerged from the building and handed them their scripts, Duncan humbly said, "I know."

*T*S*R*

As Grace squeezed her way past some pedestrians that were much larger than her, she walked into a spa, heading toward the manicurist. "How did I know I'd find you here?" she asked, shaking her head.

Mia looked down, frowning at the sight of the brunette. "Oh, it's _you_." She looked down as the woman continued to file her freshly painted nails and asked, "Let me guess, you have a job for me?"

"Why would I be here if I didn't?" As the manicurist left to get Mia's bill, Grace grabbed her by her wrist and dragged her out of the building. "Since you're sort of useless when it comes to helping myself, maybe you should try helping me sabotage _other_ people."

"Who'd you have in mind?" Mia asked, obviously bored as she sat on a bench and looked at her pretty red nails.

"Gwen, duh!" She pointed down the street and said, "I think she headed somewhere over there. Find her, then come back tell me what she's doing. I'll handle the rest from there."

"And what exactly do you plan on doing?" Mia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You leave that to me… Now get going! I have to get back to my dumb lemonade stand."

"I didn't pay for my manicure…"

As Grace started walking back toward the street her stand was on, she said over her shoulder, "You can use the money I saved you to buy a drink when you get me… Now get to it!"

* * *

"Twelve thousand and five hundred dollars, Twelve thousand and five hundred dollars," Mia chanted to herself, trying to keep calm. "You are doing this for the twelve thousand and five hundred dollars…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

As Trent played some pretty complicated tunes, Selena strummed her guitar, which had her new red balloon tied on near the top, in the background. Trent, thinking up lyrics on the spot, sang , "_Diabetes really sucks, so won't you give us a few bucks_?" As a wealthy business man dropped twenty dollars in their case, Selena cheerfully thanked him.

After he was gone, she told Trent, "This was a good idea, playing by the CN Tower."

"Why?" Trent asked, curious.

"Duh! American tourists are going to want to visit it, especially ones who love cartoons. They'll recognize you from Total Drama Island, donate a lot, and-"

"You realize that the CN in CN Tower doesn't stand for Cartoon Network, right?" Trent asked, sounding like he already knew the answer.

Selena stopped strumming and stared at him for a moment. Not saying anything for once, she went back to playing her chords, blushing a bit in embarrassment.

As Trent started playing again and another pedestrian dropped some money in their guitar case, the violet-haired passerby behind him gasped, as she recognized Trent. "Omigosh, no way! You're from _Total Drama Island_!"

Trent sheepishly grinned, put his guitar down and said, "Yeah, that'd be me. I'm-"

"Trenton Elijah DiCaprio," the violet-haired girl sighed, basking in Trent's wonderful Trentiness.

"Uh…" Trent looked freaked out. "How do you know my _full_ name? I-I never even said my last name on the first season…"

The girl proudly grinned and, pointing to herself, said, "I'm Sierra, the number one Total Drama fan! If there's a fact about the cast that others want to know, I'll find it out before anyone else!" Sierra looked over at Selena, as if noticing her for the first time. She gaped at her, a small squeaking noise escaping from her agape mouth for a second. After getting over her shock, she glomped her to the ground, knocking the guitar out of Selena's hands.

"You!" Sierra shrieked in excitement.

"Yeah, me!" Selena shrieked back, a little scared. "Could you, like, get off me, please?"

After getting up, the violet-haired girl got up, also helping Selena up. "OMG, I'm SO sorry! It's just that you're one of the new contestants for the next season of Total Drama!"

"How'd you know that?" Trent asked. "The season hasn't aired yet…"

"The trailer was just leaked online, like, a few days ago," Sierra perkily explained. "As the biggest Total Drama super fan out there, I was the first blogger to find it and put it on every one of my TD blogs!"

* * *

"How could there be a trailer already?" Trent asked. "We haven't even finished the season yet!"

* * *

Trent raised an eyebrow. "How many do you have?"

"Sixteen, going on seventeen!" She giggled for a moment, then said, "The seventeenth one is going to be all about the latest scoop on the latest season, _Total Sibling Rivalry_! This. Is. Perfect! I'll get the deets before the other bloggers even have a chance! Are there more of the realebrities here? Huh? Huh?"

Selena raised an eyebrow. "Realebrities?"

"Uh, yeah," Trent answered her. "It's our challenge for the day to be here and-"

"YAY!" Sierra pulled a notepad out of nowhere, along with a pencil, and started jotting something down. "Spoiler alert: the TSR cast will be hitting Toronto!" She gasped suddenly, realizing something, and got right in Trent's face. "_Cody's_ in this season! He's still competing, right? Pleeeeeeease tell me you all didn't vote him off yet!"

"N-No," the musician said. "He's still here."

Once she got out of his personal space, she let out a huge, glass-shattering squeal, causing Trent and Selena to both slap their hands over their ears to keep from going deaf. "OMG! I might actually get to meet him! No way, no way, **no way**!" She turned back to the other two, who uncovered their ears. "Where is he? Can I meet him?"

"If you can find him," Selena said. "He's not on our team so-"

"Trent and Cody aren't on the same team," Sierra mumbled as she wrote that fact quickly into her notepad.

"Actually, they were the first time around, but we got new teams and-"

"OMG, the teams get changed mid-season?" Sierra asked, jotting something down in her notebook again. "This is so juicy!"

Selena giggled, momentarily warming up to her. "If you think _that's _juicy, you should hear about-" Trent abruptly slapped a hand over her mouth.

"Don't reveal _too_ much about this season!" Trent whispered into her ear.

"He's right!" Sierra exclaimed, as she had somehow come between the two. "Spoiling _too _much would just be mean!" She placed her hands on Selena's shoulders, making her tense up. "Just give me the dish on _you_. Tell me any little detail you'd like! Your hopes, fears, eating habits… Maybe your dental records if I'm lucky…"

"Um… I don't know my dental records," Selena sheepishly said, looking like she wished she could be anywhere else.

"Come on, gimme the deets," Sierra begged getting right in her face. "Please? I NEED to know this stuff!" She shook her and screamed, "Tell me, tell me, TELL ME!"

Trent could sense Selena's extreme discomfort, so he told Sierra, "Hey, could you back off with the third degree? You're scaring her…"

"But I need info on the new contestants for my new blog!" Getting in Selena's face again, she pleaded, "Tell me EVEREYTHING!"

Not being able to take it anymore, Selena screamed, "I'm Selena Anne Caliver, daughter of Robert James Caliver and Nancy Elizabeth Reed Caliver, sister to Duncan Monroe Caliver and Zoey Abigail Caliver! I'm thirteen years old and was born August 25th, which makes me a Virgo, my favorite food is the churro, my favorite band is the Jonas Brothers, I'm claustrophobic, I'm allergic to strawberries, I want to be a cop when I grow up like the rest of my family, my pet goldfish Finny died when I was five because I put cream of mushroom soup in his fishbowl, I like-"

"Wait, not so fast!" Sierra cried out, sounding ecstatic as she rapidly wrote the information down in her notebook. "This is gold! I would have just settled for the basic stuff, but this is _amazing_! Smiley face!"

Selena scooted closer to Trent, hiding behind him to get away from Sierra.

"Thank you soooooo so much, you guys!" Sierra exclaimed, running over to give them both a huge, bone-crushing hug. "This is going to make my blog a thousand times better!" She noticed the open guitar case full of money and asked, "By the way, what are you guys doing?"

"Raising money for charity," Selena quietly said, lifting Trent's arm so she could peek at her. "It's our challenge for the day."

"Ooooh, challenge spoilers!" Sierra exclaimed. After scribbling it down in her notebook, she pulled some money out of her pocket and handed it to Trent. "Here's a little something for you guys."

Trent took the bills, his eyes widening once he took a look at it. "Sierra, this is _three hundred _dollars! Are you sure you want to give us this much?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Sierra said, waving a hand nonchalantly. "My dad owns a huge car dealership here, so it's not like we're tight on money. How do you think I finance all this research? Besides, you guys deserve it! Especially you, Selena! You gave me such great info! I never did know Duncan's middle name until now. The Duncan fangirls will _love_ that!"

"Please don't tell him you heard it from me. He hates his middle name," she nervously said, coming out from behind Trent's back, but clinging to his arm, like she thought Sierra was going to drag her away and lock her in her basement.

"I won't," she said, taking a good look at the other pedestrians. "It's been fun, but I've got to find some other newbies… And Cody. Winky face," she said while winking at them.

"Uh… Nice meeting you," Trent lied.

"TTYL!" Sierra ran off, probably in search of Cody.

Neither person said anything as she ran off, and Selena still clung onto Trent's arm. Breaking the silence, Trent raised an eyebrow and asked, "Cream of mushroom soup?"

Selena blushed, finally letting go of him. "Finny looked hungry!"

* * *

Golly. So many guests. Let's see if I can list them all…

Teenager by the Confession Booth, Shin the Ill-Tempered, Guitar-Playing Boyfriend, Casey the Ill-Tempered, Guitar-Playing Girlfriend, The Souvenir Kiosk Guy, Kelly the Not-So-Cleverly-Disguised Author Insertion (only mentioned), The Balloon Cart Person, The Steak Knife Juggler, Rosalinda (AKA Alejandro's sister, cuz I'm a dork who likes making OC relatives… I would have found a way to squeeze Alejandro in here, but this chapter's already too long), Mr. Valdez, the Brunette Woman, Steve, Bert, Customer who bought a magnet, Other Customer who wanted a shirt, Stranger Danger Boy, Lemonade Stand Customer, The Enemy Mobsters and the hounds that they released on Candace and Jovie, Wealthy Business Man, The Manicurist that Mia never paid, Wealthy Business Man, Pedestrian in front of Sierra, and… SIERRA THE SUPER SPECIAL GUEST!

And Lindsay.

Oh, wait. No, she _wasn't _here. I guess I'm not as predictable as I thought… :D

But we'll see who wins next time! And if they actually eat at McDonald's or not. Stay TOONED! ((Lol, Christian Potenza reference))


	42. Day 17, Part 3: Or Not

"Aaaaaand, cut!"

Sighing in relief, Duncan hopped out of the convertible he had been in and shoved the camera out of his face. "Great, now where's the check?"

"Dude, don't ask like _that_!" Geoff whispered, hopping out of the convertible right after he did. Coughing, he slowly asked Mr. Valdez, who had walked up to the two, "Greeeeat… Soooo… Where's our check?"

As Duncan rolled his eyes, the man pulled his checkbook out of his pocket, ripped a check out, and handed it to him. "You two were extraordinary! You earned every penny."

"Thanks again, Valdez dude," Geoff cheerfully said. "This is so totally awesome!" he exclaimed, holding up his hand for a high five. He waited, but Mr. Valdez promptly ignored his outstretched hand and headed inside with the camera crew.

Geoff shrugged, then looked at the check as Duncan tucked it deep in his pocket. "What an excellent thing we did for charity, my good friend. What shall we do now on this lovely, sunshiney day in the magnificent city of Toronto?"

Duncan wasn't buying Geoff's fake-sounding tone. "Let's go find Candace so you can brag…" As Duncan walked ahead of him, Geoff stopped to stare at him, absolutely perplexed.

* * *

"How did he know what I was thinking?" Geoff questioned. "I-I even talked all fancy to try and throw him off!"

* * *

Duncan crossed his arms behind his head and scoffed. "When Geoff starts using words at any reading level higher than the third grade, you _know_ he's just trying to cover something up…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

As Zoey sold more lemonade and DJ rocked back and forth next to it in the fetal position, sucking his thumb, Marilee finally came back. Unfortunately, she was in handcuffs and had been escorted back by a cop.

"Oh. You really _were_ offering goat rides," the female cop grumbled once she saw Chester tied to the light pole.

Oh, how Marilee wished she could have ripped her a new one! If only she wasn't a police officer… As she unlocked her handcuffs, Marilee quietly said, "I'm sorry, Officer. I won't do that again…"

"You'd better not," the cop warned her, pulling the cuffs off. As Marilee rubbed her wrists, she added, "And you're lucky I don't shut this operation down."

"Why would you?" Marilee asked. "Is this illegal or something?"

"It doesn't matter either way. I have bigger eggs to fry..."

"Need to find your nephew and make sure he stays out of trouble?" she asked, smirking a bit.

The cop gave her a shifty look and muttered, "Maybe…"

Zoey, finally noticing the officer, ran off from her stand and flung her arms around her legs. "Aunt Laura!"

She smiled a bit, bending down to return the hug. "Hello, Zoey! Ooooh, look how big you are! And so pretty, too! Aren't you the cu-" She stopped for a moment, looking back up at Marilee, who looked a bit confused. Laura stood back up, coughed a bit, and put her serious demeanor back on. "I've got my eye on you…"

As she walked off, Marilee continued to rub her sore wrists and muttered, "And _I've _got my eye on the prize, not some stupid little boy's virginity, you boob…" Luckily, Laura had been too far away by that point to hear her.

As Zoey went back to her stand to help a customer, DJ, who had snapped out of his thumb-sucking trance once the two had arrived, looked extremely confused. He uncurled himself and stood back up. "Virginity? Y-You almost got arrested for child molestation?"

"Yes," Marilee grumpily replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "_Apparently_, telling someone to 'ride my goat' can be considered sexual harassment… I mean, on what planet is 'ride my goat' even the slightest bit sexy?" she asked, ticked off.

"Um… None?" DJ guessed.

She snapped her fingers at him. "Exactly! The only thing that saved me was when I told her I was friends with Selena. I mean, I know they come from a long line of cops, but what are the odds?"

"Aren't you too young to be arrested?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, but there's no way I'll be caught dead in Juvie!" the blonde exclaimed. "The prison challenge was bad enough! And what about that stupid cop, huh? Last time I checked, 'goat' wasn't some sort of crude slang for a certain section of the female anatomy. And how is Cartoon Network going to edit _this_? Children aren't supposed to know about vaginas!"

"Neither am I!" DJ cried, covering his ears with his hands. "My momma would smack you silly if she heard you using that kind of language!"

Marilee rolled her eyes. "Body parts aren't cuss words, DJ. I'm pretty sure that you, Zoey and Grace won't _die_ if I say-" She paused, looked at the lemonade stand, suddenly noticing the absence. She suddenly punched him in the arm and screamed, "Where's Grace?"

Whining from the punch, DJ told her, "That's what I was so upset about! She wandered off and-"

"Wait, there she is," Marilee said, pointing to Grace, who was back at the stand, taking money from another customer.

"What?" DJ spun around, trying to determine whether she was a hallucination or not. She was not. "When'd you get back?"

"What?" Grace scrunched her face in confusion. "I never left! Right, Zoey?"

"But you _did_ le- OOF!" After Grace elbowed her in the gut, she grumbled, "Uh, right. She was here…"

"B-But you said she left a-and I-"

Marilee interrupted him by saying, "No time for that. They're both here and that's all that matters. Now help me think of new things to do with Chester."

DJ looked back at the tied-up goat and asked, "What's wrong with the goat rides?"

The camera panned farther out, showing that there was nobody for miles. A cricket stared chirping… until Marilee squashed it with one of her high heel wedges. "Hate those things…"

DJ gasped in horror, then glared at her, though she looked like she could care less. "_Really_? Was that _really _necessary?"

"We can discuss that later, cricket hugger." She crossed her arms and continued, "But you can see that this isn't attracting people like we thought it would."

"We? This was _your_ idea!"

* * *

"I guess he's not afraid of me anymore," Marilee grumbled. "Or he's at least not scared when he's too busy pointing out my mistakes… Believe it or not, I make them."

* * *

"Okay, but let's stay here so we can watch Grace and-" As DJ turned around, he saw someone absent and screamed, "Where's Zoey?"

*T*S*R*

After he had finished taking inventory and started poking around the cash register, Cody asked, "Wow, who knew running a lame souvenir stand could rake in so much cash?"

"I'd say our celebrity status helps a bit," Courtney told him, exchanging a t-shirt for twenty dollars with a customer.

"Really?" Cody raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think that?"

"EEEEEE!" Sierra ran to the stand at full speed, stopping mere inches in front of Cody.

"Um, hi," Cody greeted, a little freaked out by how violently she was shaking in excitement. "Can I help you?"

"You're _**CODY**_!"

Cody couldn't help but grin. "That's me! But can I-"

"What are you doing here?" she screamed, completely forgetting everything Trent and Selena had previously told her.

"Uh… Challenge for the new season." Cody scratched the back of his head awkwardly with a pencil he had in his hand from taking inventory. He couldn't help but feel weird from getting that kind of attention. "We're trying to raise money, so-"

"I'll take this pencil!" she cried, snatching the pencil right out of Cody's hand.

He raised an eyebrow and held a finger up. "Um, that's not really for sale…"

"I don't care!" She threw some money at him, which he quickly grabbed and took a look at.

Cody, still looking at the money, started, "Uh… This is _thirty dollars_. That pencil can't be worth more than thirty _cents_. Are you sure you-" He finally looked up, gaping at Sierra as she took a deep whiff of the writing utensil and let out a satisfied sigh.

"Mmm," she moaned in pleasure. "Smells like Head and Shoulders. That must be perfect for your horrible dandruff!"

As Courtney giggled, Cody's face turned red and nervously asked, "H-How did you know that?"

Sierra jabbed her thumb in her chest, then proudly proclaimed, "I'm Sierra Valdez, number one Total Drama super fan! I've got the dirt on everyone!" She leaned closer to him and dreamily sighed, "Especially _you_…"

"Uh…"

As Cody tensed up, Sierra asked, "Haven't you read my Cody blog?"

"Why would I read a blog about _myself_?" Cody cocked an eyebrow. "I think I know me better than _you_ do."

"Did you know your birth was a mistake, then?" Sierra innocently asked.

"… What?"

"It's true!" Sierra squealed with a hyper nod. "Your parents sued the condom company and everything!"

"I… I was the result of birth control gone wrong?" Cody asked, looking heartbroken. He paused, then asked, "Wait, how could _you_ have known that, but I didn't?"

"I have my ways," Sierra told him, running a finger along his jaw line. "And IMHO, I'm _really_ glad that condom tore…"

As she watched Cody sweat in fright, Courtney felt like she should do something before the uber-fan raped him. "Hey, Sierra," she called out, making her look up. "Y'know, Cody just took inventory." She motioned to their souvenirs. "That means he's touched a lot of this stuff and-" A violet blur flew past her and Sierra started fondling pretty much everything at the kiosk.

Cody breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Thanks, Courtney. That was so-"

"Hi, guys!" a high-pitched voice greeted.

Cody squeaked in fear, hiding his face from who he thought was Sierra. When he peeked through his fingers, he saw that she was still rubbing her face against all the snow globes. He uncovered his face and looked down, seeing a smiling Zoey looking up at them with two paper cups in her hands.

"Zoey?" Courtney asked, surprised. "Where did you come from?"

"I dunno, but I walked for a really long time to get here!" Zoey said, climbing up onto the stool by the cash register and handing them the cups. "I gotted you some lemonade, 'cause I thinked you'd be thirsty."

"Aww, thank you," Courtney happily said, taking the cup and patting her on the head.

"Yeah, thanks!" Cody took his cup and added, "I was starting to get thirsty and-" He stopped mid-sentence, looking inside the cup. "Uh, this is half empty."

"Or half full," Zoey suggested, shaking one of the snow globes sitting by her. "I was just bringin' one to Courtney 'cause I didn't know you was here and that cup was mine, 'cause I was thirsty. I didn't want you to be all sad though, so you can have that."

"Wow, that's… thoughtful." Cody looked inside again and made a grossed out face. "There's something in it!" he exclaimed, freaking out.

Zoey peeked inside, stuck her hand in it and pulled the lumpy item out. She giggled, shook it dry and said, "Oh, that's my gum! It falled out on the street, so I put it in there to clean the yucky ground germs off."

"… I'm not thirsty anymore," Cody sadly sighed, setting the cup down on the counter.

"Okay," Zoey mumbled with a shrug, popping the 'clean' gum into her mouth.

Courtney gasped and exclaimed, "No, spit that out!" She slapped her on the back, which made her cough and spit the gum out by Courtney's feet. After Zoey looked at her gum and pouted, Courtney asked, "Zoey, where's your group?"

Zoey turned around, pointed to the street she came from and told her, "Aaaaaall the way down that street! DJ and the scary blonde girl were watching me, but I sneaked off when they was fighting."

Courtney slapped her forehead with her hand and mumbled to herself, "I'd expect something like this to happen with _Duncan _in charge of you, but _those_ two actually seem to have some sense…" She looked back at her and sternly told her, "You really shouldn't have done that. You could have gotten hurt! What were you thinking?"

Zoey's eyes got full of tears and she whimpered, "B-But…I just w-wanted…" She quit trying to talk and started bawling, burying her face in her hands.

Courtney's eyes widened and she nervously said, "N-No! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell! Please don't cry!" Zoey's sobs got softer, but they didn't get any less consistent. Sighing, Courtney turned back to Cody, who still looked sad from his spoiled drink and told him, "Look, I'm going to take Zoey back to wherever she's supposed to be. Watch the place, okay?"

Cody looked back up, eyes wide in fear and asked, "But what if Sierra starts harassing me again?"

"Deal with it!" Courtney snapped, sick of his squeamishness toward the fangirl and frustrated with her predicament with Zoey. She gently lifted the sniffling Zoey off the stool, then stood her up, took her hand, and headed with her toward the street Zoey had pointed at.

Cody rung his hands, sitting down on the stool. "Uh, okay…"

After Courtney was out of sight, Sierra ran back to Cody, getting right in his face. "Cody, quick question for my blog! Have you ever French kissed someone?"

As Cody shook, he stuttered, "N-N-No…"

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she brought her mouth to his ear and huskily whispered, "Not for long…" As she sniffed his hair, Cody whimpered softly, wishing he could be anywhere else in the world.

*T*S*R*

Marilee was awkwardly standing over DJ, who was curled up by her feet, sobbing insanely loud. "Dude," Marilee muttered, embarrassed to be seen next to him. "You make _Geoff _seem macho… _Duke_ even!"

"B-But she's out there all alooooone!" he cried, burying his face into his hands. "She's gonna get hurt and it'll be all my fault and Duncan will kill meeeeee!"

"C'mon, this is a fanfiction! And a _humor_ one, at that!" Marilee screamed at him. "Who _really _gets hurt in a humor fan fiction?" When he only continued to sob more, Marilee rolled her eyes, grabbed one of his large arms and hoisted him onto his feet. "If you don't want to be murdered, then maybe you should go find her!"

"Wh-Why can't you do it?" he fearfully asked.

"Because we _both_ lost her, but Duncan already hates me," she stated. "If you don't find her, he's going to hate you, too."

"I guess that makes sense…" He scratched the back of his head and mumbled, "Sorta…" He stood up and walked off, leaving Marilee to sit down to think about what to do with Chester.

As Grace sloppily poured another glass of lemonade for any upcoming customers, Chester walked up to the stand and tried eating her short ponytail. She yanked away and yelled, "Go away!" After yelling, she heard a faint bark and looked around. Not seeing a dog in sight, Grace shrugged and continued shooing the goat away. After a few more seconds, she heard a more distinct bark and looked under the counter of the stand, gasping when she saw Fluffernutter the wolf pup staring back at her with wide eyes. "Fluffernutter!" she hissed. "What are you doing here? You musta snuck on the plane and followed us!" She poked her head back up, relieved to see Marilee's back was still turned to her.

"We could start a petting zoo," Marilee mused to herself as Chester walked back to her. She scratched under his chin and muttered, "The world's _loneliest _petting zoo…"

"You gotta go!" Grace whispered to the pup, trying to shoo him out from under the stand. "No one can see you! They'll make us get rid of you!"

Fluffernutter blinked up at her, but nodded like she knew what she was saying and wandered down the street, dodging several pedestrians.

*T*S*R*

"I told you Paulie would get us new outfits," Candace told Jovie, carrying said mobster's package and smiling at her doubtful friend. "They're pretty cute, if you ask me!" She twirled around so Jovie could see her red scoop neck t-shirt and short khaki shorts better.

"I think they're stolen, though," Jovie commented, looking over her green baby doll tank top layered over her white t-shirt. She kicked her leg up to look at her jean capris and strappy green ballet flats.

Candace gave her a strange look. "What makes you think that?"

She held up the bottom of her tank top so the cheerleader could see the device attached to it and whispered, "The security tag's still on it!"

Candace blinked, looking a bit worried. "… Sometimes they forget to take those things off." Even _she_ didn't sound convinced by that. As Jovie whimpered and gripped her aching head, Candace patted her on the back and said, "Don't worry! When we get back to camp, you can ask Duncan to take it off. I'm sure he'd know how to do it!"

"I'm not keeping this!" Jovie cried.

"But your old clothes got destroyed from those dogs that practically mauled us!" Candace reminded her. "And everybody except Marilee wears the same thing everyday anyway, so you're stuck with it. C'mon, it looks nice!"

Jovie looked down at the outfit, smiling a bit. "It _is_ pretty, isn't it?"

"There ya go!" Candace gave her a quick hug, trying not to shake the package up. It might have exploded, for all she knew. "And Paulie's girlfriend even did our hair for us! For free!"

"Yeah, she did it so the enemy mobsters won't recognize us!" Candace's hair had been cut quite a bit, down to a much shorter low ponytail. Paulie's girlfriend had brought out most of the red in her hair, but left a few strawberry blonde streaks, per her request. Jovie's hair had gone in the opposite direction, by getting extensions so her hair went past her shoulders. She had given it more volume and added a few lighter highlights, which Jovie had been hesitant to. After she saw the dye had not been tested on animals, she was more comfortable with agreeing to it.

"You know you like it," Candace said, smiling a bit in hopes of cheering her up. "It makes you look super purdy!"

Jovie sighed, looking down at her outfit one more time. "I really do want to be more open-minded, but this is too much at once! I wanted to start slow, like not yelling at someone to recycle or even eating a bacon bit, not _breaking the law_!"

"Bacon bits _are_ good," the almost redhead commented with a nod. "C'mon, this delivery stuff's a little more than we signed up for, but it has its perks." Candace smiled again. "And we're doing something bad to do something good, so it cancels out. We're like Robin Hood! … But with nicer clothes and better hair!" Jovie still didn't look convinced, so Candace nudged her and added, "And maybe your new look will snag you a hottie!"

Jovie looked up, almost looking shocked. "Oh, I don't think so," she shyly said, looking back down at her new shoes. "I don't really do good with talking to guys all flirty…"

"And you think _I _do?" Candace asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm annoying as hell and I still got a guy in a matter of weeks!"

Jovie rolled her eyes. "You're not annoying… You just sort of _come off _that way at first…" She crossed her arms and shrugged. "I don't really think I'm ready for a boyfriend yet, anyway. At least not now."

"That's fine. It's a bad idea to rush into something like that when you don't want to even do it… But this new look should boost your confidence! Maybe enough that you'd _want _a boyfriend!"

Jovie stopped walking and gave Candace a look. "What are you talking about? I've got plenty of confidence!"

"Then why are you so hard on yourself after every little mistake?" Candace asked, stopping as well. She suddenly gasped, spun Jovie around and subtly pointed to a teenaged guy walking several feet behind them. "Omigod, that guy was totally checking us out!"

Jovie scoffed, shoving Candace to the side. "Yeah, right! Why would he pay attention to _your_ scrawny behind when you know he's really looking at all _this_?" She struck a sexy pose, making the guy whistle in admiration, wink at her and walk into the store he needed to go to.

As Jovie giggled in delight, Candace smirked at her and tugged on her wrist to make her keep walking. "C'mon, it's almost time to meet the team for lunch and we still have to go to Vito's Eat-o's and talk that hit man into laying off Big Daddy..."

*T*S*R*

"Hey, you found her!" Marilee exclaimed, standing up from her curb and grinning at DJ, Zoey close behind him.

"Yeah, she went to find Courtney," DJ explained. "She tried bringing her back, but we sorta met halfway."

As the two continued talking, Zoey went back to the stand, got close to Grace and whispered, "I think I saw a doggie run by me and Courtney that looked like Fluffernutter!"

"He snuck on the plane!" Grace whispered back. "We can't let anyone see her!"

"But she ran off and I don't know where she is!" Zoey's eyes moistened and she whimpered, "She's the bestest puppy I've ever had…"

"She's the _only_ puppy you've ever had…"

"But I still love her!"

Grace, expressing her rare emotion of sympathy, patted her friend on the head and told her, "She'll come back. And if anyone sees her now, they won't know she's ours!" Zoey pouted, but went back to work with the lemonade. Grace had surprisingly never led her wrong before…

Once Zoey was busy and DJ and Marilee had gone back to brainstorming on the curb, Grace saw Mia from the corner of her eyes as she walked down the sidewalk. DJ and Marilee had their backs turned and Zoey had a customer, so Mia was able to go unnoticed with ease. She crouched down, whispering what she learned about Gwen into her ear. She nodded, and Mia quickly scurried away to be done with the girl for the day.

"I might have to have another little field trip," she said quietly to herself, an devious smirk on her face.

Before she could step out of stand, Marilee looked up at the at the many clocks in the clock store across the street and gasped in excitement. "Oh, _finally_! Lunch time!"

Grace looked frustrated, but sighed in mild defeat. She _was_ getting pretty hungry…

*T*S*R*

The Fighting Ferrets had agreed before they separated that they would take Chris' advice and eat at McDonald's. It's not like they could really afford anything else. With their spare money, they managed to buy one soft drink. They took turns refilling it, which didn't make the McDonald's employees happy at all.

All eight of them were seated at a few tables pushed together, eating their pitiful meals. While Grace and Zoey had walked to the back to use the bathroom, the older teammates were discussing what had happened to them that day.

"A crazy fangirl harassed me and Selena," Trent said, taking a sip of their shared soda.

"I got a balloon and named it Winslow," Selena told the group, holding up her tied-up wrist so they all could fully see her balloon more clearly.

"Geoff and I got hired to do a commercial for some car dealership," Duncan said, stuffing several fries in his mouth. "We raked in a buttload of money."

"The owner's crazy daughter made me sign her stomach," Geoff stated, shuddering at the weird memory.

"I got all freaked out because-" DJ remembered that Trent and Duncan were there, so he opted out of telling them about Zoey and Grace's little adventures. "Uh, because I saw a spider."

Marilee paused for a moment, then sheepishly looked down at the table and mumbled, "I almost got arrested for child molestation…"

The rest of the team stared at her for a moment, then returned to eating their lunch, muttering scattered, "You win"s at her.

*T*S*R*

Courtney, holding a McDonald's bag and a paper cup filled with water, hummed a small song to herself as she walked back to her and Cody's kiosk. Before Sierra and Zoey came to the stand, the two agreed that Cody would work through their lunch break so they could earn as much money as possible, as long as she brought him a cheeseburger back. It was probably better that he didn't come. At least he didn't have to sit through Jovie and Candace blathering about mobsters and attack dogs and some guys named Big Daddy and Paulie and Vito and blah blah blah. And they all thought _Izzy _was insane…

When Courtney got in sight, she gasped, seeing the shelves of their kiosk were completely empty. She had thought the best, but then she saw Cody on the ground by it, rocking back and forth in the fetal position and sucking his thumb. "Cody?" She sat the bag and cup down, then lightly kicked him. "Cody!"

"MY UNCLE'S A LAWYER!" Cody screamed, blocking his face with his arms. When he peeked through and saw that it was just Courtney, he sighed in relief, but still looked worried. "Oh Courtney, it was awful! She… _did_ things to me!"

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah, reverse sexual harassment is hilarious and all, but what happened to the souvenirs? Did you really sell _everything_?"

"Uh…" Cody stood up, looking nervous. "Not exactly…"

Courtney's eyes widened and she glared her famous Courtney glare at him. "What do you mean '_not exactly_'?"

"Hee hee…" Cody tugged on the collar of his striped shirt, grinning nervously. "You're going to find this hilarious…"

"My sense of humor is pretty dry," Courtney angrily reminded him, not liking his worried tone. "Trust me, I _won't_…"

"Uh… Right." He sighed, then quietly said, "Well, Sierra wouldn't leave me alone, soooo… I kind of promised to give her anything I touched there for free if she left me alone… And since I took inventory, I touched _everything-_"

He was promptly interrupted when Courtney grabbed him by the front of his shirt and lifted him up so his feet were no longer touching the ground. "You gave away over five hundred dollars worth of merchandise? ARE YOU CRAZY?" she screamed at the top of her lungs as she shook him, attracting quite a bit of attention. She grunted in frustration, letting him fall flat on his back. "The girl paid thirty dollars for a pencil! You could have charged her for all that! The girl worships the ground you walk on, she would have given you the _world_, if she could have! SHE WAS OUR TICKET TO VICTORY!" She finished with an aggravated huff, then fixed her hair, which had gotten extremely messed up from her spazzing.

"I'm sorry!" Cody exclaimed, genuinely regretting his decision. "I-I was too freaked out to think properly!"

Courtney took a deep breath in attempts to calm down, then sighed, "PLEASE tell me you didn't give her any of the money we already made."

Cody's eyes widened and he slapped his forehead. "Man, I never thought of that! If I had offered her _money_, she might have left before she stuck her gum in my ear!"

Glowering, Courtney grabbed the free cup of water she had gotten him at McDonald's and dumped it over his head. She crushed it in her hand and threw it, hitting him square in the forehead. As she stormed away from him, Cody pushed his sopping hair out of his face, looking guilty as he watched Courtney get farther and farther away. He temporarily forgot as he noticed the bag for the first time. "Oooh, lunch!" He grabbed the bag, yanked the sandwich out of it and its wrapping, and took a big, not-so-well-deserved bite.

*T*S*R*

Rosalinda managed to smooth talk a rather thuggish-looking young man into lending her his boom box, which she happily presented to Gwen and LeShawna. "All good break-dancers need their music!" She pulled a baseball cap from behind her back and flung it on the sidewalk by Gwen's feet. "_And_ something to hold all their tips!"

Gwen looked impressed. "Wow, you managed to get that guy to give you his boom box and his hat? You must be pretty persuasive."

Rosalinda proudly smirked, rubbing her nails nonchalantly on Gwen's corset. "We Burromuertos have a way with words…" She suddenly looked guilty and added, "But I sorta forgot to ask for his hat, so I took it off his head when he turned his back…"

Gwen chuckled a bit. "Nice… Wait, Burromuerto? That's your last name?"

"S-_Si_," Rosalinda quietly said, trying to hide her embarrassment. "It's Spanish for 'beautiful flower'…"

"… No, it's not."

"Yes it is." She glanced to the side, trying to avoid their confused glances.

LeShawna scratched her head, then asked, "I ain't a Spanish aficionado, but doesn't that mean 'Dead Donk-"

Rosalinda, trying to avoid further humiliation, interrupted her by firmly and loudly saying, "NO. IT DOES NOT."

LeShawna and Gwen exchanged glances, but LeShawna shrugged and mumbled, "Okay, whatever helps you sleep at night, girl." She looked over at Gwen again, who had crossed her arms and clearly looked frustrated from what she was about to do. "You ready?"

"Of course not," Gwen bitterly said, looking to the side. "If this wasn't for charity, I wouldn't be doing this… Do you think people will recognize me?"

"Not in those clothes," Rosalinda reassured her, patting her on the back. "You look completely different! And the beanie kinda hides your hair… Which is good, because not a lot of people have teal and black hair…"

"Now that we know you ain't gonna die from Goth shame, can we get this started?" LeShawna asked, clearly impatient. "We don't have much time left!"

"Fine," Gwen sighed as she kicked a button on the boom box, making loud hip-hop music blare out. As LeShawna began violently shaking what her mama gave her, Gwen awkwardly shuffled her feet and swayed back and forth. Pedestrians walked past them, barely noticing them and their dancing, but Rosalinda was letting out loud whoops and hollers and doing a little dance of her own. "Yeah, shake it, _chicas_!"

After the Ferrets ate lunch and returned to their posts, Grace had once again snuck away from Marilee and DJ to find the place Mia had mentioned to her before. She was able to easily see Gwen and LeShawna's pathetic dancing from a mile away, since they were definitely the worst of the street performers. She laughed to herself, shaking her head. "What Trent sees in that freak, I have no idea…" She got closer, but hid behind a trash can near them so her presence would remain unknown. She sat down, trying to think of how to go through with her plan… She was going to try to destroy their boom box, because without music, there would be no way for her to raise money, right? If Gwen were the one to destroy it, it would definitely make her chances of being eliminated more likely.

Something was going to have to make her break it. Pushing her down would be easy, but her cover would be blown… While she thought and thought, something scruffy shuffled out of the trashcan and sat by her feet to nibble on a moldy slice of tomato. Grace looked down, seeing a huge, hairy, disgusting rat. She let out a terrified yelp, then slapped her hands over her mouth. Luckily, the music drowned it out. Just as Grace was about to get up and run away, inspiration struck her. "That's it!"

Mustering up all her courage, Grace grabbed the rat by its neck and poked her head from behind the trashcan to get a better view of Gwen. Once she saw the right opportunity, she roughly dropped the rat on the sidewalk and shoved it in Gwen's direction. "When Gwen tries to stomp that rat away, she'll stomp on the boom box in blind terror! Perfect!"

Gwen stopped her lame dance once she saw the rat. Instead of screaming, freaking out and throwing a boom box at it like Grace hoped she would, she merely grinned and bent down to pet the aggravated creature. "Here there, little guy. You remind me of my pet rats back home…" She raised an eyebrow once she heard a strange noise coming from the rat, then quietly added, "Though I never knew that rats purr…"

Grace looked at Gwen's display of affection toward the hairy thing, then face-palmed. "I shoulda known she'd like something that's all icky and gross and stupid. She can relate to that kinda stuff… Okay, time for Plan B!" She kicked the ground and muttered, "As soon as I come up with it…"

Gwen hoisted the rat onto her shoulder and he was more than happy to make himself comfortable. "Wouldn't want you to get stepped on, now would we?"

Rosalinda flinched, looking a little green. "_Aye_! It's touching my clothes!"

Gwen raised an eyebrow at her and retorted, "You just bought a chili dog and you're eating it in _my_ clothes! Why are _you_ freaking out more than I am?"

Rosalinda lifted her chili dog up and took a huge bite. "Because," she started with a mouth full of food. "Rats are _gross_!" That exclamation caused a huge glob of chewed-up hot dog and chili to fly out of the Latina's mouth and plop all over Gwen's corset.

As Rosalinda tried blotting the goop off, Gwen grimaced and went back to what she called dancing, with her new rat friend on her shoulder, bobbing to the beat. During a particularly large bob, the poor rat fell down her back and into the back of Rosalinda's baggy pants. Once Gwen could feel the strange sensation, she let out a high-pitched, un-Gothlike scream and started shaking her hips, trying to get it out of her pants.

Grace looked at the spectacle, lip poked out a bit as she thought. "Huh. Maybe her spazzy dance will ruin everything. I knew Plan B would work!"

Instead of freaking people out, it actually attracted more people than they had been, which was none. LeShawna slowly stopped dancing, once she saw how wildly, yet admittedly good her Goth friend was 'dancing.' LeShawna nodded in respect, a small grin on her face. "I knew you had it in you, girlfriend!"

"It's not in _me_!" Gwen shouted, shaking her hips furiously, while the crowd cheered and a few tossed some money into their cap. "It's in my _freaking pants_!" As she shook one of her legs back and forth, up and down, she wailed, "There's a _rat_ in my pants!"

One of the bystanders looked to his friend, confused, and asked, "Doesn't that sound familiar?"

His friend shrugged. "I dunno. I don't watch Phineas and Ferb."

The other guy nodded for a second, then looked back at his friend, extremely confused. Before he questioned that statement, he shrugged and muttered, "Oh well, she dances good. And she's hot. Wanna give her lots of money?"

"You betcha!" He tossed a few dollars into the cap and exclaimed, "It's like going to a strip club, but she has clothes on and my girlfriend won't yell at me for as long later tonight!"

"… Why do I hang out with you again, Roger?"

"I don't care if there's a rabid mongoose in your pants, girl!" LeShawna exclaimed, watching as the cap spilleth over with money. Rosalinda gathered the money before it spilled out and tucked it in the pockets of Gwen's skirt. "We're raking it in! Keep it up!"

Grace, who looked on at the scene, groaned and was about to think of a Plan C, but a hand suddenly grabbed her wrist. "Ugh, **there** you are!" She turned around to find Marilee, looking down at her with a very unhappy expression. "Me and DJ have been looking for you everywhere. You gotta stop running off like that!" The blonde walked off, exclaiming, "DJ, I found her!" as she dragged her down the street in the opposite direction of Gwen's crowd. Watching the crowd get bigger and bigger as they got farther and farther away only made Grace more angry.

* * *

"Okay, I really need to think my plans out more," Grace mused, arms crossed in annoyance. "But gimme a break, I'm three! Most kids my age would just pulled her hair or thrown their Hot Wheel cars at her, or whatever it is normal, stupid kids do when they don't like somebody!"

* * *

Marilee and Grace met up with DJ and Zoey, who was sitting on his large shoulder and had her earnings in a paper bag that was tightly folded at the top. DJ also had Chester by his leash, which he handed back to Marilee. "You take him!"

Marilee raised an eyebrow at him as she took the leash. "Why are you freaking out? I thought you liked animals."

"I do, but this animal does _not_ like me…" He pointed to the bite mark on his wrist and she cringed.

"Ooooh… That looks bad." She tightened her grip on the leash and the group headed back to their previous location.

A few feet ahead of them, a young woman burst out of the door of an apartment complex, beaming and holding her textbook in her hands. She exclaimed something, but none of them could understand what she was saying. She happily walked past the group, but not before Chester took a huge bite of the textbook she was holding.

Marilee gasped when she turned around and saw what their goat did. "Oh, no!" She grabbed a rolled-up newspaper out of nowhere and smacked Chester on the head with it, making him bleat like it was a sob. "I'm really sorry! Is there anything we can do to-"

"YEAH!" The lady exclaimed, looking at her ruined textbook with jubilance. "Take that, Latin III!"

"… Huh?" DJ, Marilee, Zoey and Grace all mumbled, extremely confused. "B-But we just ruined your book," DJ said, scratching his head.

"Exactly! I just finished my last semester of Latin and I was gonna get rid of my book! Your little friend did it for me in the most awesome way possible: by eating it!"

"Um… That's… great?" DJ still sounded a tad confused.

Marilee looked confused to, but her eyes widened as inspiration struck her and she slyly held out a hand. "Give us five more bucks per chomp to finish the job?"

She looked down at the remaining half of her textbook in thought, then looked back up and grinned. Rummaging through her pocket, she pulled five dollars out and handed it to her. "Deal."

Marilee happily took it, then leaned toward DJ and whispered, "I think we just found our new cash cow… Or should I say cash _goat_?"

She giggled to herself, while DJ shook his head. "Marilee, I thought you were above jokes as horrible as that one…"

As the girl gave Chester her textbook to nibble on, Marilee frowned, crossed her arms and said, "I am, but c'mon, I practically _handed_ that one to myself!"

*T*S*R*

"C'mon, duuuuude!" Geoff whined, looking at Duncan like a lost little puppy. "Pleeeeeease!"

Duncan raised his single brow. "Dude, that look's not going to work on me."

"It works when Zoey does it!"

"No, it doesn't," Duncan slowly said, and you could tell he was lying, but Geoff wasn't going to push it. He'd never admit to having any feelings whatsoever.

"Just let me see it! I've never seen so much money before!"

"It's just a check. It looks just like every other check in the world, except there's a few more zeroes on it…"

Geoff took a deep breath, then loudly whined, "PLEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAASSSS-"

Duncan, who couldn't drown out the whine even when he plugged his fingers into his ears, groaned and jammed his hand into his pocket. "Fiiiiiiiiiine! Take the stupid thing!" He threw the check at his friend, which he quickly snatched. "Sheesh. You must really want to do this for Perky McSunshinePants, huh? Has it ever even occurred to you that if we win, that's to that colossal check, that the Ravens will lose and Candace will hate you for it?"

Geoff sat down on a nearby bench and stared at him, like _he_ was the stupid one in their friendship. "Dude. It's Candace. CANDACE."

Duncan sat down next to him, scratching the back of his head. "… Yeah, you can pretty much only go _up_ with her, huh?"

Changing the subject, Geoff held the check down so he could take a good, complete look at it. "Forty five hundred dollars. Wow. You think anyone else made that much?"

"Doubt it. We're in the clear, bro."

"This is going to be the best win ever!" Geoff exclaimed, still looking down at the check with glee. That is, until a mutt-like dog raced down the sidewalk, grabbed the check in its mouth and continued running down the street with it. Geoff's eyes widened, as did Duncan's when they saw his empty hands.

"You IDIOT!" Duncan slapped him in the back of the head, which made him whine in pain. "What was _that_? You let that mutt run off with our ticket to victory!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't see it until it was too late!"

Before Duncan could brutally mangle the party animal, he tried his best to compose himself and said, "There's no time for this. We need to find that stupid dog and get our check back!"

Geoff nodded in agreement and the two sprinted down the street to attempt to catch the very familiar dog…

*T*S*R*

Cody, who had wandered off in search of Courtney in order to apologize, sighed and found that he had wandered back to the parking lot. He saw the truck was still there, since nobody had obviously driven it since they left and nobody would want to steal it… Besides them, of course.

Cody slid into the driver's seat, gripping the steering wheel. He figured it'd be easier to find one of the ladies from his team if he could drive around, so he turned the keys that Courtney left in the ignition and backed out of the space. Once he was on the main road, he slowly drove down the street in search of teammates, but saw none of them.

Just as he thought he saw Courtney, somebody ran out several yards in front of him. Somebody named Sierra.

She was wearing several of the "I Love Toronto" t-shirts that Cody gave her, one layered over the other, and she squealed in delight upon seeing her realebrity crush for the second time that day. "OMG, Cody! Remember me?"

Cody screamed in fright and swerved to the right, knowing she wasn't going to budge. Luckily, there weren't any cars in his way. There was, however, a brick wall which he slammed into before he could think to move anywhere else.

Seconds after the impact, the scrawny nerd groaned in pain, which was quickly muffled after the air bag inflated about ten seconds too late.

A shrill shriek pierced the air, and Cody could see out of the corner of his eyes that Sierra had ripped the driver's side door clear off the truck. The girl was as strong as she was persistent. "Oh, Cody!" She dragged him out of truck, almost every part of him aching. "You risked your own life to save mine!"

"I was trying to get away from you!" Cody cried, looking panicked once again. Sierra ignored him and shoved his face into her chest.

"Don't worry, Cody! I'll find someone to mend your wounds!" She threw the poor boy onto her shoulder and raced off, leaving the totaled car and its engine to smoke and eventually catch fire.

*T*S*R*

As Gwen continued trying to shake the rat out of her pants, more people crowded around to watch it. It was so wild and crazy, but it was impressive at the same time.

Rosalinda, using the megaphone the Ravens had gotten as their reward, shouted into it, "Come on, y'all! Let's give this talented chica some love, huh?" The audience whooped and hollered for Gwen, and Rosalinda quickly added, "By love, I meant MONEY!" An 'Oh' or two rang out and several people threw some money into the hat.

"Yes, yes, yes!" LeShawna cheered, absolutely ecstatic. "We're winnin' this thing for sure! Time for LeShawna to bring it on home!" The sister jumped in front of the spazzing Gwen, doing something that resembled a pelvic thrust, but was much, MUCH worse.

The cheers and excited chattering faded and it was silent, except for the music. As LeShawna continued to shake her groove thang, Roger and the unnamed bystander looked disgusted by the terrible dancing.

"God, it's like she's giving my eyes an abortion," Roger groaned, covering his eyes with his hands but still peeping through them, for some reason.

"… You're really weird."

"Who cares? I'm not paying for this!" Roger took his money out of the cap and yelled, "If I wanted to watch horrible non-stripper dancing, I'd take my girlfriend out dancing for once!"

"How has your girlfriend not dumped your sorry butt yet?"

More people started to complain and started collecting their money from the cap as LeShawna shook her money maker, or rather, her money _taker_.

"No, wait!" Rosalinda cried through the megaphone, almost deafening the woman standing in front of her. She ran over to the cap and screamed, "No refunds, you _hijos de puta_!" The people cringed in displeasure from the amplified screech, but continued collecting their money and shuffled away from the dancing girls.

As a few final shakes of the leg, the rat flew out of the leg of Gwen's pants and she sighed in relief. "Thank God," she sighed. She looked up, suddenly noticing the lack of people. "… Did I scare everyone away?"

"No," Rosalinda sadly said, setting the megaphone down on the ground and kicked the boom box, stopping the music. "_LeShawna_ did."

LeShawna stopped dancing once the music did and she gasped, clearly offended. "I did no such thing and you know it! Didn't you hear those fools? They were cheering for me!" She threw her hands up in the air and tried imitating their cheers by going, "'Woo! Woo!' That's what _I_ heard!"

Rosalinda face-palmed. "They weren't going 'Woo! Woo!' They were going 'Boo! Boo!'"

"… Are you sure?" LeShawna was clearly crestfallen from the sudden discovery of her lack of dance skills.

Rosalinda's expression suddenly softened. "Yeah. I'm sorry."

"It's alright," LeShawna said, clearly still sad. "You're just being honest."

Gwen picked the cap off the ground, rooting around what was left. "If it makes you feel better, some people didn't even want to come within ten feet of you, so they didn't bother to take their money back."

"… In a weird way, that actually _does _make me feel a little better."

* * *

GASP! Will Cody be okay? Are Marilee and DJ the worst babysitters ever? Is Roger a total freak? And who will be eliminated next chapter?

Answer key: Yes, yes, yes and Lindsay… Wait, she's not in this season. Never mind

Sorry no one got eliminated this chapter. This challenge requires lots of detail.


	43. Day 17, Part 4: The Barf Bag Ceremony

LONGEST. CHAPTER. EVER.

FAINT. PANT. WHEEZE.

Before we begin and I pass out, let me explain the live-screening: unedited footage is streamed to the losers so they can see what their friends and families are up to. It's not the real episode actually airing on Cartoon Network/Teletoon, just a little preview for them. You'll see what I mean. And please don't ask questions about the end, if you're confused. It will be explored more in the next chapter. I hope you at least get the gist. If not and it's killing you, send me a PM and I'll explain it better. I just feel I didn't write it as good as I could have, but couldn't think of a better way to word it.

Oh well. Enjoy!

* * *

Trent, carrying his guitar case full of money, walked down the sidewalk with Selena, who had her new guitar close by and was looking around at all the sights to see in Toronto. Being too close to his own guitar, Trent gave it to a hobo in an alley by the CN Tower. He figured he could use it to earn some money of his own… Or use it to hold his tin cans. Whatever floated the homeless man's boat. Selena, on the other hand, kept her guitar. It was much nicer than her old one… And they had only seen one hobo, so why not?

The sun was getting lower, and they knew they'd have to go back to the city's entrance and give Chris the money sooner or later. As they searched for somebody on their team, Selena suddenly lost grip of her balloon and it started floating toward the street, which was packed with cars. Selena jumped up to reach it, and Trent luckily caught her in mid-air before she landed in front of a speeding convertible.

"Selena, you have to be more careful," Trent said, sounding very exasperated as he sat her back on her feet. "This has got to be the fifth time I've kept you from wandering into oncoming traffic."

"Sorry," Selena said, barely paying attention as she grinned in victory at her balloon. "But did you see that catch? It was perfect!"

"The landing wouldn't have been quite as great, though," Trent told her, a small smirk on his lips.

Selena giggled a bit, that is, until her balloon popped out of nowhere. She looked down at the rubbery remains dangling on the end of her string. "Wi- Wi- WINSLOW!" She started bawling, mourning the loss of her dear balloon friend and causing a few heads to turn. A thirteen year old girl crying over something as silly as a popped balloon was a bit odd, after all.

As she continued to bawl and scream something about how he was too young, Trent face-palmed.

* * *

Trent sighed an exhausted sigh as he tucked his hands in his pockets. He looked out the glass wall in the Confession Booth, then back at the camera and said, "Selena's cool and all, but after spending the _whole_ day with her, you just start to feel like you're babysitting. The only difference is that I'm not getting paid and she hasn't gotten anything stuck up her nose yet."

He looked out the window once again, then gasped once he saw what Selena was doing a few feet away from the booth. "Selena, no!" he yelled, hitting the glass to get her attention. "Take that out! Nickels are _not_ supposed to go up there!" He groaned, looking back at the camera. "What's up with her? I know she's a little… _different_, but she's not usually this crazy! It's like after lunch, she just started bouncing off the walls!"

* * *

"I had five refills of Mountain Dew back at Mickey D's," Selena said, her eye twitching ever so much. "It was so good and my mom never lets me have that much at home and I don't know why and it was so good and my eye keeps twitching and it was so good and is my heart supposed to be beating this fast?" She stopped rambling, seeing something buzzing in front of her face. "Ooooh, a fly!" She started chasing it around, knocking the camera to the ground and making the screen go to static.

* * *

As Trent and Selena, who was still a bit gloomy over her popped balloon, made their way around a street corner, they were greeted by an extremely long line, the people forming it waiting for something eagerly with various items in their hands.

"Is this the line for the public restrooms or something?" Selena tried looking around the line of people, but it was so long, she couldn't see what it led to. "Or maybe a pawn shop?" she suggested, taking notice of the stuff the people were holding.

"I seriously doubt a pawn shop or even a restroom would have a line this long," Trent muttered, dragging Selena away from the back of the line and walking past the people. At the end of the line, a Hispanic teen about Trent's age watched the two as they walked past him and called out, "Excuse me, friends? The line ends here."

They looked back at him and Selena, quickly taking note of how attractive he was, let out a giggle and said, "We know. We were just going to see what it was you're waiting for."

"But now that we're talking about it," Trent started, looking back toward the front of the line, "what _are_ you guys waiting for?"

"One of your friends from Total Drama and a very intimidating blonde girl are letting their goat amigo eat any personal items one wants destroyed for five dollars a chomp," the handsome young man explained. "I know, it is strange indeed, but very amusing."

"What are you giving Chester to eat?" Selena asked, pointing to the suspicious bag Alejandro had in his hands.

"Um…" He hid it behind his back and mumbled, "Something that I need to get rid of…" He quietly added, "So there's no evidence," and it was luckily quiet enough that the other two didn't hear.

"So DJ and Marilee _did_ find something to do with Chester," Trent mumbled, looking back at him. "Uh, I guess you recognized me from TDI, right?"

"Yes, it's an honor to meet you, Trent. I'm Alejandro." He looked over at Selena and grinned. "And who might you be, _senorita_?"

His intense beauty hit Selena even harder, making her cheeks flush and her caffeine high fade. "Um… I'm… Candace."

"No, you're not," Trent told her, confused by her sudden stupor.

"Oh. Right… I'm Bridgette."

"You're getting colder."

"… Ophelia?"

"Who?" Trent asked, looking more confused that ever. He finally gave up on Selena guessing her own name and said, "Alejandro, this is Selena. Selena, Alejandro."

"Selena," Alejandro softly said, taking her hand. "What a lovely name." He gallantly bent down and kissed her hand, which only made her face redden more and almost made her faint. Luckily, Trent caught her before she hit the ground.

"Uh… Okay?" Trent looked back at Alejandro and said, "Nice meeting you… I guess." He stood Selena back up, who looked extremely dizzy.

Alejandro seemed unfazed by Selena's strange behavior, as if he was used to girls acting like that around him. "The pleasure is all mine."

As Trent guided the dazed girl toward the front of the line, he looked at the camera, chuckled and quietly said, "Heh, if you're watching this, Zack, sorry you had to see that."

Selena looked up at him, confused. "Who's Zack?"

**Meanwhile, miles and miles away from Toronto…**

A few of the campers voted out of Total Sibling Rivalry were in the lounge in Playa de Losers, watching the live feed of the footage from that episode. Rikki and Jackson exchanged worried glances and then looked at Zack, who was sitting on the couch adjacent to them, his mouth gaping in horror. "Oh, wow, Zack," Rikki murmured, unsure of what to say. "I'm sorry about that. She probably didn't mean it."

Zack still said and did nothing but stare at the screen, even though Selena was off of it by that point and it was showing Cody at the hospital with Sierra sobbing over his many injuries.

Bridgette, sitting in the loveseat on the other side of Rikki and Jackson, stood up and walked over to Zack, waving a hand in front of his face. "Zack? You okay?" He didn't blink.

Jackson sucked in a little bit of air through his teeth, as if he felt his pain. "I think he's in shock. This guy from my Psych course last semester said that his cousin went into that same state after his dad got remarried to a woman the same age as his younger brother." He nodded and mumbled, "Poor guy was stuck like that for weeks. Zack could be stuck for that long too, if he's that upset about it."

Jamal, who was seated next to Zack and had been quiet until then, let out a roaring laugh and elbowed Zack in the arm. "Bro, I think you're girl's gotten over you!"

He continued to laugh, that is until the younger boy stood up and kneed him in a place guys do _not _want to be kneed. "At least I **HAVE **a girlfriend!" With that, he stormed off, muttering profanities to himself.

While Jamal fell off the couch and stuffed his arms between his legs in seething pain, Bridgette and Rikki looked concerned at Zack as he stalked off. Jackson just sighed, "Or just a few minutes…"

**Back in Toronto…**

When Trent and Selena finally got to the front of the line, but not before getting a few more pictures with fan girls and a few more bucks for charity, they saw their little sisters collecting the items from the people at the front of the line and hand it to DJ. While DJ fed said item to Chester the goat, Marilee happily took the money from the customers as they watched the goat gobble their hated possessions away from existence.

"Um…" The two stopped as they approached Grace and Zoey, but the latter was too busy carrying a pile of a girl's embarrassing school pictures over to DJ to talk. Trent looked down at his sister and said, "Is this what you guys have been doing all day?"

"Nope, we just started this goatie feedin' thingy," Grace said.

"Oh… What did you do _before_ this, then?"

* * *

"As much as I'd like to see Trent yell at people, which he doesn't do _nearly_ enough, I wasn't gonna tell Trent about how I ran off from DJ and Scary Mari twice, 'cause then I'd get in trouble with him, too," Grace said, arms crossed. "Not as much as them, but still. Then I'd have to pull The Face, patent pending, so he'd forgive me just like that! The Face takes a lot of energy, and it was an exhausting day and my plan didn't work… And I can't be evilly adorable _all_ the time!"

* * *

"Me and Zoey had a lemonade stand," Grace told him, taking an ugly Christmas sweater from a twelve year old boy, the sweater most likely from his grandmother. Grace walked toward DJ and Chester and Zoey walked back to take a girl's ex-boyfriend's letterman jacket.

The girl angrily threw the jacket at the raven-haired little girl, but it landed around her shoulders like she had merely put it on her. "Yeah, and Marilee and DJ were trying to get people to ride Chester for monies but Marilee chased this boy and gotted arrested by my Aunt Laura."

Trent looked freaked out by the last part, but shrugged as he said, "Sounds like you guys had an eventful day."

"Aww, I missed seeing Aunt Laura?" Selena said with a pout. Zoey nodded as she waddled off, still wearing the heavy jacket.

As DJ took it from her, a scruffy half dog-half wolf pup raced over to Zoey and hid behind her. "You came back!" Zoey exclaimed, throwing her arms around her neck. She noticed something in her mouth, so she gently took it, cringing a bit at the dog slobber. "What's this?"

Just then, Duncan and Geoff ran up, finally stopping once they saw the dog snarling at them from behind her. Geoff took note of the check in her hands and sighed in relief. "Nice, little dudette!"

"Uh, Geoff?" Selena started, looking confused. "What's with… your head?" She pointed to his forehead, which had a rock the size of her fist lodged into it.

"Duncan threw it at me," Geoff sighed sadly. "He got mad 'cause that dog took our check-"

"-After you practically_ handed _it to it!" Duncan screamed back at him, interrupting him. He turned back to Fluffernutter and Zoey and ordered, "Zo, get out of the way go I can beat the_ tar _out of that mutt!"

"No!" Zoey defiantly yelled, hugging the puppy. "Fluffernutter's my friend and I love her and she doesn't have tars in her!"

"… _Fluffernutter_?" Duncan looked confused.

"Wait, I thought it looked familiar! Isn't that the wolf dog thing that scared the snot out of Zack?" Geoff asked, scratching his rock in confusion.

Selena paused for a moment, gasping once something clicked in her mind. "Oh my gosh! Zack!" Tears brimmed in her eyes and she shakily said, "I-I can't believe I f-f-forgot my own b-boyfriend!" She covered her face and cried out, "I've never felt so stupid!"

"Really?" Duncan asked, eyes widening in shock. "_Never_?"

"I… I…" She slowly walked in the opposite direction, clutching her guitar to her chest and trying to keep herself composed, though not because Duncan's comment stung. It was all about Zack.

Marilee, who had been too busy with Chester and the money, noticed her friend walking off and looking moody, so she looked back at the group behind her. "What was that about?" She shook her head and muttered, "Never mind. Knowing Selena, it's probably a long story anyways…" She walked over to DJ to tell him where she was going and ran off after her.

"Okay, we'll get back to her later," Duncan grumbled, looking down at Zoey. "But what did you mean when you said this thing was your _friend_?"

"I don't wanna lie anymore," Zoey quietly said, apologetically looking at Grace before turning back to Duncan, who had taken a place by Trent, and sheepishly looked down at her feet. "Grace and me found Fluffy a while ago and we've been hidin' her under our bunk bed so you guys wouldn't find out about her."

Grace, standing besides her, quietly groaned and glared at her friend. "You just had to say my name too, didn't you?"

As they looked up to see Trent and Duncan looking back down at them, both looking very displeased. Zoey shook a bit in fear and hissed to Grace, "If I'm goin' down, I'm taking you with me!"

"That sounds like something I would say," Grace said with a sigh of defeat.

*T*S*R*

A familiar Latina walked up to Alejandro in line, her hip-hoppish clothes folded neatly in her hands. Instead of those, she was wearing a rather expensive looking navy blue halter dress with matching strappy high heels. So it was pretty much the opposite of her old outfit.

"_Dios mío_," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "That was more stressful than I thought. Let me destroy these rags before I stab someone."

Alejandro turned to her as the line crept farther up. Eyebrows raised, he said, "Rosalinda, you're the _nice _one in this family! You're not usually like this."

"I'm not usually forced to wear such hideous clothing," she reminded him. "Just because I'm nice doesn't mean I have to dress like a clod. What was the point of all that, anyway?"

"The _point_ was to slowly work our way toward being on the third season of Total Drama." As the line moved a bit more, the two moved along with it. "The second season is halfway done by this point, but we could weasel our way into the next game."

"You know I don't like weaseling. And besides, don't you think that if we _could_, we would have gotten into the second season? I mean, we're siblings and we're good at rivaling!" She looked to the side and murmured, "Not to mention the fact that our uncle is Chris' boss…" She thought over what he had said before and asked, "And what's this _our _and _we_ stuff? I'd like to compete with you and all, but you didn't do anything today!"

"That's where you're wrong, _mi hermana_," Alejandro slyly said as the line slowly kept moving. "I just struck up some conversation with Trent and one of the newcomers. And even though I only talked to her for three minutes, I've already earned her trust… As I easily could with the others…" He smirked to himself and Rosalinda looked at him, clearly unsure.

"Whatever you say, Alejandro. I still don't think it will work."

"You'll see," he told her, finally getting close enough to the front of the line to see Marilee, DJ and Chester. He narrowed his eyes and quietly said, "Next season, they'll all see, as well. One by one, they'll _all_ go down…"

*T*S*R*

* * *

"I'm the worst girlfriend _ever_!" Selena cried, face buried in her hands. Shaking from her crying, she looked back at the camera and squeaked, "I'm sorry, Zack. First I was wooed by Justin in the woods, then I asked if Chester was hot and now?" She crossed her arms over her chest in a shameful way and quietly said, "Why do I keep screwing this up?"

Marilee suddenly approached one of the transparent side walls of the phone booth and lightly knocked on it. "Selena, get out here."

Selena looked at her for a moment, then quickly put her hands over her face, as if that would completely hide herself.

Marilee looked on at her friend, unimpressed, then flatly and sarcastically said, "Oh no. Where did Selena go? She disappeared out of thin air." She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Do you seriously think I'm going to fall for that?"

Selena uncovered her face and looked down at her feet sadly. "You did for a second there…"

Marilee rolled her eyes, then slid the door open and forcibly pulled Selena, who grabbed her guitar before she could, out of the booth.

* * *

**Back at Playa de Losers…**

"Poor Selena," Bridgette, who was still in the Playa de Losers lounge, said as she continued watching the live feed being streamed to them. "She at least feels _bad _about swooning over that Alejandro guy."

Heather, seated next to her on the couch, nodded and said, "It's not like she made out with the guy or anything. But I don't know why she would swoon over him. He seems like such a schmuck!"

Izzy was standing on her head on the love seat next to them, but was still listening in on their conversation as she kept her balance. "Ooooooh, Heather's got a boyfriend!"

"What? I do not! I mean, I do, but not _him_! I just said I didn't like the guy at all!"

"That's what Courtney said last year about Duncan," Izzy pointed out, doing a flip and landing on her feet in front of them.

"Good point, but I'm all DJ's," Heather stubbornly said, crossing her arms and turning her nose up. "But we're not talking about DJ and me, so back to Selena. I feel bad for her and Zack. Is he still mad at her?"

"I don't think he was actually mad at her," Bridgette mused, placing her hands in her lap. "Just mad in general. I mean, they barely had any time together as a couple."

Izzy looked over at the teen curled up in the recliner across from her loveseat and told them, "Well, _he_ had tons of time with his lady, but he's still a big gloomy pants about being kicked off!"

Bridgette and Heather looked over at Keith, who was in the fetal position with a tub of vanilla ice cream tucked between his legs and stuffing handfuls of creamy goodness into his bawling mouth. Bridgette, looking concerned for her brother, asked, "Uh, Keith? Wouldn't you at least like a spoon?"

Keith looked up at her with watery eyes and choked out, "Marilee _loved _spoons!" He continued sobbing and shoveling ice cream into his mouth with his hand.

Izzy walked over to him and grabbed the tub from him. She smiled her crazy smile and said, "If you wanna eat this stuff faster, you should eat like Izzy!" She stuck her face in the carton and started lapping it up like a dog, getting the sugary goop all over her face and in her hair. At least it made Keith stop crying, since he was too busy cringing in disgust to sob.

Bridgette walked over to him and rested a hand on his droopy shoulder. "I'm sorry I brought you out here, Keith. I thought maybe seeing that Marilee was doing okay would make you feel better…" She sheepishly looked down and muttered, "Guess I was wrong."

Keith stopped crying, but continued to sniffle. "Thanks for trying, sis. I guess it helps a little." He turned back to the television, seeing that his girlfriend was still on screen.

Outside the Confession Booth, Marilee slung an arm around her slumped shoulder and lead her toward their destination. "You're being too hard on yourself, Selena. I'm sure Zack understands. And if he doesn't…" She looked at the camera that was following them and said, "I'll bet his good friend Keith will be there to talk some sense into him."

"I don't wanna talk sense into people," Keith grumbled with a pout. "I just wanna sulk and act all girlish to get a laugh from the readers…"

Marilee raised an eyebrow, took her arm away from Selena and glared at the camera, hands on her hips. "I don't care if you don't want to do it, Keith! Or if the readers laugh at your wimpiness or not! I told you to go check up on him!"

Keith crossed his arms, shut his eyes and whined, "But baaaaabe!…"

She leaned closer to the camera and exclaimed, "Don't you 'but babe' me, mister! Go make Zack feel better. **NOW!**"

"Aww," Keith whined, slowly standing up from the recliner. "Even when she's not here, she's bossing me around!" As he left, Bridgette sympathetically patted him on the back and Heather sadly waved while Izzy was liking the bottom of the empty ice cream carton. Once he was at the door, he looked back at the screen, seeing that Marilee had calmed down and was giving Selena a hug to make her feel better. "Man, I miss her…"

*T*S*R*

Once almost everyone was gathered by the parking lot near the Torontonian border, except for a choice few, Chris walked over to two very large square machines placed where the hijacked pickup truck had been. This made the Ravens realize-

"Our truck's missing!" Courtney yelled in shock.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious In Training," Gwen said, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes. "It's not like it matters anymore, anyways…" As Courtney glared at her, Gwen looked around and realized something. "And where's Cody?"

Like clockwork, Cody was wheeled toward the small group in his wheelchair by none other than Sierra. Both his arms were broken and he had a huge bandage around his head. It wasn't as bad as the full body cast he had gotten last year, but it was still pretty bad. "Oh, Cody! I'm so so SO sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!" Sierra cried, her dark eyes full of tears.

Gwen, Courtney and LeShawna all gasped, running over to their injured teammate. Even a few Ferrets looked concerned. "What happened to the poor thing?" LeShawna asked, touching his bandaged arm lightly. However, even that sent him into a screaming fit of pain.

"He was driving a truck b-but I g-got in his way and he-sw-sw-swerved to save me!" Sierra sniffled, wiping her nose on her arm.

"How many times do I have to tell you I was **trying to get away from you**!" Cody screamed, not caring how much it made his scraped-up face hurt.

"I know!" Sierra squeaked, hugging him and ignoring his pain-filled whines. "You tried getting away from me so you could save my life! You're soooo heroic!"

LeShawna raised an eyebrow and told her, "I don't think that's what he meant, but whatever helps you sleep at night, hun…"

"Who the heck are you?" Chris cried, throwing his arms in the air in frustration. "You're not on the show! You can't be here!"

"I could be on the show!" Sierra cried, suddenly looking ecstatic and running over to the host. "It would be an honor being on the greatest show ever with the greatest host ever!"

Chris couldn't help but smile from the compliment. "I kinda like you. You're mega creepy, but I like you."

Sierra nodded. "I get that a lot."

"However, I still can't allow it. So scat," Chris said, trying to wave her off.

"Anything for you! Or Cody! But you asked and he didn't, so this time it's just for you!" Sierra bounced off, but not before giving Cody one last hug.

"Okay," Chris started, acting like nothing had happened. "Now, let's get all your donations and count them up!" He placed a hand on one of the square machines and explained, "These nifty little devices will count up your money, cash or checks, and whichever team's machine has the most money counted up will win!"

"These look like the ticket counter things they have at Chuck E. Cheese," Selena said, walking over and touching the metal box with her pointer finger, as if she thought it was fake.

Chris slapped her hand away and while she held it in pain and pouted, Chris told her, "That's because these are. I got this mechanic to rig them to count money instead of skeeball tickets. It was cheaper than hiring an accountant… Though we probably could have gotten a discount if I hired Geoff and Marilee's future step-dad." Chris gave the two a cocky look, but Marilee knew it was mostly aimed at her.

* * *

"Okay, how does Chris know about that?" Marilee asked, clearly irritated. "I mean, the others knew, because I went on a tirade the night I found out about it, but Chris lives farther away from us! How could _he_ have heard about it?"

"Well, you _do_ yell pretty loud, sis," Geoff said as he stood next to her.

When she looked over at him, she screamed in shock and asked, "When the freak did _you _get in here?"

"Just a few seconds ago," Geoff told her, pointing to the door behind him. "This phone booth has a really quiet door. I mean, you didn't even notice me until-"

"Get out!"

* * *

"But first off, we'll start with the Fighting Ferrets!" DJ and Marilee walked over and shoved their dollars one by one into the slot, and Geoff hung back by Chris, who looked around curiously. "Uh, you seem to be missing more than half of your team, guys. Where are Trent, Duncan, Grace and Zoey?"

"You actually _care_ where they are?" Gwen asked, actually shocked.

"Not really, but their parents and their lawyers might!"

LeShawna rolled her eyes and grumbled, "Figures."

*T*S*R*

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"**No, **Duncan!"

"_**Yes**_, Zoey!"

Zoey, who actually looked angry for once, crossed her arms and glowered. "Fluffernutter doesn't wanna live at some dumb old shelter!"

"Hey, _I_ wanted to let the thing live in the sewers, but Trent here said no!" Duncan yelled, pointing to Trent. "I'm just saying, dude, there are lots of rats down there for it to chase and-" The musician elbowed him in the gut, making him shut up, except for a small "Ow!"

Grace, who was seated on the bench by Fluffernutter, looked at the dog to her left. She was laying on her side, and Grace scratched her belly before looking at the animal shelter across the street and then up at her brother, who had recently taken the empty seat next to her. "Do we hafta do this, Trent?"

Sighing, Trent rested his hand on her back and softly patted it. "Yeah. Sorry, kiddo, but it's for the best. She'll be happier here than she would be cooped up under your bed."

"B-But we love her," Grace said, looking back down at the puppy. "And she loves us! She'll be so sad if she goes and lives someplace else! Can't we keep her!" She hugged his arm tightly, looked up at him with huge, teary eyes and pleaded, "Pretty, pretty please with nine million bajillion cherries on top?"

"Uh… Well… You really shouldn't…" He couldn't help but stare into her sad, sad eyes and feel like a total jerk for what he was doing. He looked back up at Duncan, who had still been arguing with Zoey and sheepishly said, "Y'know, maybe they could just-"

"Don't fall for it, man!" Duncan yelled at him. "You can't just do whatever she says because she looks at you with those…" He had turned to look at Grace, who was looking back at him with her glassy, pleading eyes and paused for a moment, looking as if he was in a hypnotic trance. "Those big… brown… sad, little…." He shook his head, as if shaking her affect on him away, and yelled, "No! No no no! Just don't fall for it!"

Grace crossed her arms, clearly disappointed. "Rats," she grumbled so no one could hear her. "That woulda worked if Mister No Emotions wasn't here…"

"Look, don't you girls think there was a _reason_ she keeps running off?" Trent asked Grace and Zoey. "She doesn't want to be cooped up in our stuffy cabin."

"But she'd be cooped up in a stuffy cage if we leave her there!" Grace argued, pointing to the shelter angrily.

Trent sighed, rubbing his forehead. Trying to convince a stubborn little kid to do something she didn't want to was nearly impossible.

"But if we leave her _here_, then she'll get adopted and be able to run around as much as she wants," Trent told her, trying to convince her. "Don't you want her to be happy?"

Grace looked back down at the wolf puppy, then reluctantly nodded. "Okay, fine." She shook Fluffernutter awake and quietly said, "Time for you to go, girl…" She stood up and Trent started walking them over to the shelter, but looked back at Duncan and Zoey and asked, "You guys coming?"

As Zoey walked over to Fluffernutter and gave her one last tummy rub, Duncan shook his head. "Nah, man. I kind of want to talk to Zoey about something."

Trent nodded, then continued to go over to the animal shelter with Grace and Fluffernutter. Duncan looked back at Zoey, who had taken a seat on the now-empty bench. "So… How long did you hide that from everyone?"

"Like a week," Zoey sheepishly said. "Maybe two…"

Duncan took a seat next to her, nodding. "Impressive." Zoey looked back up at him, confused. Wasn't he mad before? "When I first hid Petey from Ma and Pops, I was only able to keep him hidden under my bed for five days…" His brow furrowed in thought and he muttered, "Now that I think about it, maybe _that's_ why he finally ran away…"

"Petey?"

Duncan sighed, leaning further back on the bench. "Yeah, guess it was about time you found out about Petey… When I was a few years older than you, I found him rooting around in the neighbor's garbage one night. I had seen him around the neighborhood before, lots of people had, but he didn't have an owner. I had always wanted a dog, but the 'rents said no. Probably because I shaved my friend's mom's cat a few weeks before then, but that's another story."

"So you hid your doggy, too?" Zoey asked. "And he ran away?" She frowned and patted her brother on the arm. "That's so sad! Is that why you hate dogs?"

The punk nodded, his expression a little more soft as he looked over at the shelter, though he couldn't see through the tinted windows. "Yeah. I guess it is. And why I got so mad when I heard you had been hiding one like I did. Because I knew you'd have to go through the same thing. I didn't want you to be hurt like I was…."

"Aww!" Zoey gave him a big hug and squealed, "You're the nicest, bestest brother ever!"

Duncan patted her back, but rolled his eyes at that statement.

* * *

Duncan shook his head, smirking. "If that kid had another brother, she'd realize what a total douche I actually am…" He shrugged and added, "But she lost her dog, so I didn't wanna crush her dreams _too_ much. Ignorance is bliss, after all. Selena's living proof of that."

* * *

Selena glared at the camera and whined, "Even when I'm miles away, Duncan still somehow finds a way to insult my lack of smart molecules!"

* * *

*T*S*R*

After DJ and Marilee finally finished putting their money in the Fighting Ferrets' money machine and Selena had done Trent's guitar case full of money, the Fluffernutter-less foursome joined the group, which left just two other people missing. Duncan, catching on pretty quickly, pulled his and Geoff's check out of his pocket and stuffed it in the slot. Trent looked over at Geoff, then raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Uh, Geoff? Why do you still have that rock Duncan threw at you stuck in your forehead?"

Geoff smiled and shrugged. "I got used to the pain. It feels kind of good now. It's made my head all numb and happy."

Marilee rolled her eyes. "You didn't need the rock's help with that, bro…"

"Okay, while we wait for our total, let's let the Raving Ravens cough up their dough," Chris said, looking over at the other team.

Courtney took the few hundred dollars that she and Cody had earned and stuffed it into the machine. LeShawna sheepishly pulled a few crumpled dollars out of her pocket, looking down at them with sadness.

"That's _all_ you two got?" Courtney asked as she put her hands on her hips, irritated.

"We _did _earn a lot more than that, but… but it sort of backfired," Gwen told her, not wanting to mention LeShawna's awful dancing being their downfall.

After LeShawna ironed out the money and put it in the machine, she looked all around. "Where are Jovie and Candace? They've been gone a while. I'm starting to worry…"

"While we wait for those two flakes to get back," Chris began, looking back at the Ferrets, "let's see what our money bag team has totaled!" He pushed a big red button on the front of their money counter, and the total amount they all earned flashed onto the small screen in big, red digital numbers. "Fifty four hundred dollars?"

Everybody excluding Geoff and Duncan gasped, eyes bugging out in shock. "H-How is that even possible?" Courtney half-yelled. "We've had less than ten hours! That's over five hundred dollars an hour!"

"We have our ways, princess," Duncan cockily said with a smirk.

"Well, whatever ways you have, I think they're gonna lead to your victory!" Chris looked out at the road, not seeing Jovie and Candace rushing over any time soon. "While we wait for them, we might as well see what you morons came up with…" As the Ravens glared at him, Chris pushed their button and a comical fart sound played as their total flashed onto the screen. After seeing the tiny total, Chris burst out laughing, as did the other team.

"You only raised four hundred?" Duncan choked out, clutching his gut from laughing so hard.

"And **six**!" LeShawna yelled, reminding everyone of the pathetic amount she and Gwen supplied, even though she knew it didn't make much difference.

Gwen crossed her arms angrily as the Ferrets laughed at them, glaring at one in particular. "Trent! How could you?"

Trent let out a few more laughs, wiping his tears of joy away. "S-Sorry, babe! It's-It's just… so small!"

"Well, it won't be that way for long!" Courtney rebutted, trying to sound convinced, even though she was not at all. "When Candace and Jovie come back, they'll-"

"Wait, so nobody's seen those two in a while?" DJ interrupted, suddenly looking scared. "What if they got hurt?"

"Come on, that's not likely," Courtney told him. "It's not like they could have been doing anything dangerous or life-threatening."

"Weren't they talking about mobs during lunch though?" Cody asked, eyes widening in fear.

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Oh, they were just looking for attention. I don't blame them, considering Selena and Marilee hog the show's spotlight so much."

"Hey!" the two blondes yelled, clearly offended.

Chris nodded in agreement and said, "Considering that those two have failed to show up, I'm guessing they forfeit! Which means that the Fighting Ferrets are our winn-"

"WAIT!"

Everyone spun around, seeing the missing duo running toward them. Jovie was lugging a huge bullet-proof suitcase with her. As they skidded to a halt, the Fighting Ferrets, Cody and Chris all looked confused by their new appearances. "Wait, you guys got makeovers?" Marilee exclaimed. "Why did you get makeovers?"

Candace shrugged and explained, "We needed to disguise ourselves or else we'd be swimming with the fishes."

"Oh, okay, tha- Wait, what?"

Candace ignored Marilee freaking out and turned around to find Geoff staring at her, mouth agape. "Hi, Geoff!" She posed sexily and asked, "Like my new look?"

Geoff didn't answer for a moment, but when he finally did, it was barely a mumble. "Heart attack, BRB…"

As he fainted, Candace giggled. "Oh, Geoff! You're so funny!" She looked down at him, seeing that he wasn't springing back up and chuckling, and suddenly looked more concerned. "… Geoff?" She poked his side with the tip of her foot, but he didn't budge. "Wake up! And why is there a rock lodged in your forehead?"

"Uh… Okay then," Cody said, barely able to look down at him, since his neck was in a neck brace. Since Jovie and Candace were right in front of him, he was at least able to look at them. "Wow, when did this happen?"

"When you were running that kiosk Courtney mentioned at lunch," Jovie answered, looking at the total on their money counter. "Which you apparently didn't do that good of a job with."

"Oh, yeah… I was a little busy getting molested," he quietly grumbled, but then looked back up at her. "But you look great!"

Jovie gave him a small smile. "Really?" LeShawna was shaking Geoff in attempts to wake him up. He still didn't.

As Grace kicked Geoff to try and wake him up, Cody smiled back and tried to nod, but couldn't. "Really."

"You're sweet, you know that?" Jovie reached out to pat him on the head, but withdrew her hand and asked, "Uh, not that I didn't notice before, but what's with all the injuries?"

"I crashed Earl's truck into a brick wall…"

"… _Why_?"

"Long story," Cody sighed. Gwen was finally able to wake Geoff up, but only by kicking him in the kiwis. He looked down at the silver suitcase and asked, "By the way, what's in the case?"

She lifted it up and smirked. "The answer to our prayers." Once everything calmed down and everyone gave Geoff some room, Jovie and Candace proudly walked up to Chris. "Chris, I'm not entirely proud to say that we raised…" Jovie popped the case open, revealing neat stacks of money and finished, "five thousand dollars!"

Everyone gasped, and the Ferrets looked horrified. "Haha, yes!" Courtney cried, jabbing her finger in Duncan's chest. "I told you all our girls would pull through for us!"

"You got lucky, toots," Duncan said, clearly trying to hide his anger.

"Lucky they got, indeed," Chris announced. "they won by a mere six dollars!"

"Yeah, that wasn't so useless after all, now was it?" LeShawna smugly said, crossing her arms and shutting her eyes in pride.

"Looks like one of your sorry butts is going home," the host said, shooting a glance at the sad Fighting Ferrets. "We'll just get back on the plane and-"

"_There y'all are_!"

Everybody spun around and saw a hefty Southern-looking man charging as fast as his short legs could take him. He stopped a few feet away from the Raving Ravens and shouted, "Them's there be them dang ol' teeny-boppers who stole mah dang ol' truck!"

"You must be Earl!" Candace exclaimed, extending her hand out to him. "I'm Candace and I…" Her voice feigned as he glared at her and she quickly took back her hand and rubbed the back of her head awkwardly.

"Let me guess," Chris started, walking between Candace and Earl. "This is the guy you stole the truck from. The truck that you crashed?"

"WHAT?" Earl tossed his trucker hat on the ground and shouted a copious amount of slurs, which could have been curses for all they knew. He was talking too fast and too Southern to tell. After he was done, he got right in Chris' face. "Y'all better gets me a new truck, dangflabit! I'll sue fer everythang y'all are worth!"

"Sheesh, calm down, Billy Ray," Chris said, holding his hands up. "Why don't I just get you a new truck? That heap you had couldn't have been more than what, thirty bucks?"

"It was worth over four thousand dollars, ya yellabelly!"

"What? That pile of scrap metal?" Courtney exclaimed, only making Earl more angry. "Where is Chris going to get that kind of money?"

"Right here!" The handsome host slammed the lid of the case of money shut and took it from Jovie, shoving it into Earl's chest. As a few of the Ravens argued in protest, Chris loudly reminded them, "Who _hijacked_ this hairy man's truck? Who _crashed _his truck?" They didn't have much of a response to that, so he nodded. "Yeah, I thought so…" He looked back at Earl, who was grinning widely as he poked around inside the suitcase. "Okay, you got your money and ruined these teens' chances of winning, now get lost." He shoved Earl off screen, turning back to the Ravens. "Looks like you guys are back to being losers. And the Fighting Ferrets are once again our winners!"

Said team let out loud cheers, while the other one slumped and sulked.

* * *

"I love that euphoric feeling you get when you win," Marilee happily said. She leaned her back against the glass wall and dreamily sighed, "I love winning almost as much as I love spoons…"

* * *

"Guess we did all that for nothing," Jovie told Candace with a sad sigh.

"Yeah," Candace said, trying her best to smile. "But I can honestly say that going to 699 Main Street and joining the mob was an enjoyable experience for me."

"Speak for yourse-" Jovie did a double take at her and said, "Wait, 699?"

"Yeah, that was the street number of that abandoned business where we met Big Daddy. Why?"

Jovie looked up at the billboard that had led them to the mob in the first place, and her voice shook in what seemed to be fury. "Candace… The billboard right there said the job was located at _669_ Main Street!"

Candace's eyebrows furrowed in thought and she pulled Earl's Hooters receipt out of her shorts pockets. "But I wrote the number down, see!" She handed it to Jovie and it clearly said '699'. That is, until Jovie flipped the paper upside down and it read '669'.

"… Oh. What was _that _building, then?"

"It was a candy store!"

"Oh… Oh. That sounds like it would have been fun!"

"More fun than getting chased by pitbulls and almost dying!" Jovie cried, looking ready to strangle her.

"Hee hee…" She nervously rung her hands and muttered, "I guess that explains why Big Daddy said he was 'expecting us' and kept calling us Constance and Joanie… I thought he was just having a Lindsay moment…"

**Meanwhile, in the Happy Fun Yummy Candy Emporium… **

A muscular strawberry blonde in her early twenties was grumpily yanking a large glob of pink taffy on a taffy stretcher, trying her best not to let the sticky stuff touch her leather jacket. "This gig ain't at all like what Vick described the otta day," she told her partner in a thick Italian accent.

A woman with dark skin and a frightening scar running from her eye and down her cheek nodded, handing a chocolate bar to a kid from behind the counter. "Pipe down, Constance. I didn't think Big Daddy would be a skinny Jewish guy either, but you don't hear me complaining."

"Shaddup, Joanie!"

"You shaddup!"

*T*S*R*

The entire cast was seated in a room in the back of the plane they had arrived in while Chef and the interns were in the cockpit up front. The Ravens were seated in the front two rows of a set of bleachers in front of Chris' podium, while the Ferrets were in the back two rows.

"Well, I hope you all had a good time giving back," Chris said, hiding something under the podium. "And hopefully, you got something in return."

"I got a new guitar," Selena said, holding up her treasure.

"I got an awesome new look!" Candace joyously said, standing up to spin around and show off said look.

"I got one, too!" Jovie exclaimed.

"I got several broken bones," Cody mumbled, looking at his bandaged arms and leg.

"I got a rat in my pants," Gwen grumbled, crossing her arms and frowning at the memory.

"I got a rock," Geoff sadly said, pointing to the rock lodged in the middle of his forehead.

Chris tried holding back a laugh, but failed. "Haha… Charlie Brown references…" He motioned to the platter of peanut-filled barf bags he pulled out from under his podium and said, "Instead of our traditional marshmallows, I thought this plane setting would mean a change in invincibility was in order! If you don't- Wait, none of you are allergic to peanuts, are you?"

The losing team shook their heads and Chris sighed in relief. "Okay, good. Our mobster mamas over there already rumbled with attack dogs. I wouldn't want to give your parents another reason to sue the show… Regardless, you guys know the drill. No peanuts, no chance at half a million dollars. The first camper to receive a barf bag is… Gwen."

Courtney quietly huffed as Chris tossed the Goth a bag. Once she caught it, her nose wrinkled in disgust and she quickly dropped the bag. "Ugh, why is it so slimy? Please tell me those bags aren't used…"

"Okay," Chris said with a cheeky grin. "I won't tell you, then. The next bag goes to… Courtney.

The former CIT caught her bag, then sat it down and wiped her hands off on Duncan's pants, since he was conveniently seated behind her.

"… Candace." The redhead squealed in delight, catching her bag and shoveling half of the peanuts into her mouth.

"Jovie." Once hearing her name, she uncrossed her fingers and cheered when he tossed her bag to her.

Chris turned to the last two campers: LeShawna and Cody. "Look's like you two are the only ones left for tonight. LeShawna, you lost almost all of the money you and Gwen earned. Cody, you crashed a bumpkin's truck, which messed you up pretty bad, and pretty much cost your team the win so you all could cover the damage. And speaking of which, _LeShawna_ was the one who found the truck in the first place!" he exclaimed, pointing to LeShawna and only making her more nervous. "I gotta say, it's no wonder one of you is going home…"

He walked over to the door leading to the exit of the plane with the bag of peanuts in his hand and slowly said, "And the final barf bag goes to…

…

...

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Chris never did announce one of their names. Instead, he threw the door open, sending a gush of freezing wind into the small room. He tossed the bag out the door, making more than a few contestants gasp.

"What did you do that for?" Cody cried out. "Who's staying?"

Chris slammed the door. "Neither of you!"

"What?" LeShawna stood up and stormed over to him. Poking him in the chest, she growled, "You better quit playin' with us, boy!"

"I'm not," Chris said, shoving her finger away from him. "What's the fun in doing a double elimination if I _tell_ you all about it?"

"What?" both Cody and LeShawna exclaimed, the overall shock of being eliminated finally hitting them. Cody was crestfallen while LeShawna was more angry than anything else. "You can't do that! It's not-"

"Fair. I know." Chris crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Since when has this show _or_ its host been fair?"

"… Since never," LeShawna sighed, looking down at the floor in disappointment.

*T*S*R*

"Chris is such a jerk," Bridgette said, seated to Zack's left on the comfy couch in the Playa de Losers lounge. She reached into the bowl of popcorn in his lap and grabbed a few pieces, popping them into her mouth. "Cody and LeShawna shouldn't have _both_ been voted off. I mean, I'll be happy to see them when they get here because they're my friends, but still…"

"Yeah, sucks to be them," Keith, seated to Zack's right, said with a nod, shoveling popcorn into his mouth.

"Why are we all so surprised he'd pull something like this?" Zack asked, raising an eyebrow. "It's Chris. _**CHRIS**_."

Bridgette and Keith looked deep in thought and finally nodded in agreement after a few minutes. "Good point," Bridgette said, then smiled at him. "I'm glad you're feeling better."

Zack grinned a little and sheepishly shrugged. "Yeah, I freaked out a little before… Selena _is_ pretty bad at thinking before she talks, after all. Maybe I should apologize to Jamal…"

Bridgette waved a dismissive hand and mumbled, "Don't. It's just Jamal."

Keith chuckled, grabbing another handful of popcorn. "Who knew you could be so harsh, sis?"

Bridgette giggled, leaning farther into the couch. "I'm full of surprises. Just like you. I mean, sobbing like a PMSing girl?" As Keith blushed in embarrassment, both Bridgette and Zack laughed and looked back at the television.

Chris opened the exit of the plane again once Cody and LeShawna said most of their goodbyes. However, there were still a few that were saved for last.

LeShawna was standing by the exit of the plane with a parachute securely on her back. She gave Gwen one last hug, then looked back at her little sister. Clinging to the side of the opening with one hand, she gave her a small, sad grin. "Win for us Jones girls, okay?"

Jovie sadly smiled back, nodding. "Will do…" She wheeled Cody over and gave LeShawna a big hug, both trying to be strong. Once they released each other, LeShawna gave the whole crew one last wave before jumping out of the plane and screaming her head off in fright.

She didn't even want to think about seeing her sister plummet to her death, so she turned to Cody instead, parachute sitting in his lap. She rubbed her arm and apologetically said, "Sorry you got voted off. I didn't vote for you or anything, but I'm still sorry."

"I'm not too torn up about it," Cody admitted, looking at his wounds. "I wouldn't be much use, anyway… It's kind of funny, though," he chuckled, looking to the side. "Y'know, leaving the game in a wheelchair two seasons in a row…"

"I'll say…" Jovie looked at the camera and glared. "But it ain't your fault Kelsey don't have a creative bone in her body!"

* * *

A sixteen year old girl with short blonde hair, a purple t-shirt and rolled up jean shorts was sitting in the Restroom Confessional, looking like she was ready to cry. "Give me a break, I'm trying here! _**I **_thought it would be funny!" She crossed her arms, her sadness fading, and she threateningly said, "Jovie needs to learn to watch her mouth. I created her, you know. I could destroy her just as easily! … Or at least vote her out next episode!"

Chef flung the door to the confessional open, grabbing Kelsey by her arm. "Who let _your_ sorry behind in here? Quit breaking the fourth wall, Lindsay wannabe!" With that, Chef yanked her out and the screen went to static.

* * *

"But I'd like to thank you, Cody," Jovie began, smiling down at him. "You sort of helped me get out of my shell, be more open-minded to new stuff, y'know? I've still got some work to do, but I'm getting there!"

Cody chuckled, nodding as much as he could, despite his injured neck. "You have fun, okay?"

"Sure will," Jovie quietly said, leaning down to his eye level. "Take care now…" She gave him a friendly peck on the cheek, and since his back was unfortunately turned to the door, her kiss pushed him back and sent him plummeting out of the plane, wheelchair and all.

Jovie leaned out of the plane as much as she could without falling out and looked at him falling with wide, fear-filled eyes. "CODY! Oh my Lord, he's gonna be…" She stopped, then said, "No, wait. He pulled the string with his non-bum hand… Okay, okay, he's good."

"Wheelchair-ridden Cody gets shoved off of something to his death," Chris muttered to himself, rolling his eyes. "That Kelsey chick should _not_ be allowed to write…"

Kelsey suddenly ran into the room, a sweaty mess from running away from Chef and huffed, "I'd… like to… see you… **write better**!" As she wiped off her forehead with the back of her hand and tried to catch her breath, Chef ran in, grabbed her, and tossed her onto his shoulder. After he carted her out, kicking and screaming, everyone looked a little more than freaked out.

"I really need to get a new fourth wall," Chris muttered, trying to make a mental note of that. "This shows' was clearly destroyed a long time ago…"

* * *

Selena, who seemed a bit off about something, looked around the new confessional and sat down. "Um, I'm not sure if this is a confessional or not, but there's a camera, so I'm just gonna assume it is. I need to get something off of my chest."

She faced the camera and said, "Zack, I'm a terrible girlfriend. You know that, I know that. It took me longer than you to realize it, most likely, but at least I finally got it through my head. You deserve better than me, and you most certainly don't deserve to be stuck with me when we're not even physically together. But I just want to say…" Tears were slowly building in her eyes and she quietly said, "I completely understand why you broke up with me."

* * *

"DUDE!" Keith cried, grabbing the bowl of popcorn and dumping it over Zack's head. "Why'd you break up with her, moron? It's not like she made out with that Ale-whoever guy or anything! And look at her, she's almost half as hot as Marilee! That's _seriously_ hot!"

"Keith, how on earth would Zack have been able to break up with her without either of us knowing?" Bridgette asked, trying to calm him down. "He's been with either you or me the entire day! Not to mention the fact that he has no way of getting in touch with her and-"

"Shh, she's talking again!" Zack cried, pushing the empty bowl off of his head. He wanted to know what the heck she was talking about…

"I knew if you were here with me, you'd be able to do it in person, but since you can't, I did the liberty of letting you break up with me for you…" She poked the side of her head, narrowed her eyes and whispered, "_In my mind_…"

Izzy, who had just recently joined the group and sat Indian style in front of their couch, blinked in confusion and muttered, "That girl's insane…"

"But the point is, there are no hard feelings," Selena said, softly hugging herself and trying her best not to cry. "It's not me, it's you, you'd still like to be friends, you went over all the basic break-up bases… Thanks for at least being nice about it. I didn't deserve such kindness, but you could never break my heart like that, could you?" She sadly smiled, but that smile quickly faded and was replaced with a flood of tears and sobbing.

All four losers looked at the screen confusedly, even after she ran out of the confessional. "Um… Could somebody explain to me what just happened?" Keith asked, scratching his head.

Bridgette, who had started pulling popcorn out of Zack's dark brown hair to help clean him up, looked down at Zack sadly. He looked straight ahead, a devastated expression on his face. As he finally pieced together what Selena had said, he quietly murmured, "I think I just dumped my girlfriend…"

* * *

"Oh, SNAP!" Kelsey cried, gray-blue eyes wide in excitement. "Poor Zack and Selena! Only that girl could make break-up drama crazily funny! And poor Cody and LeShawna!" The dramatic music stared playing and she asked, "What will be in store next time for our sibs? Will we explore the Gwen and Courtney rivalry more? Will Selena have Zack get back together with her in her mind? Will I write _more_ shameless author insertion?"

The door burst open and Chef poked his head in the confessional once again. "Did you seriously think you could get away from me _again_?" He tried yanking her out, but she grabbed the sides of the doors with her hands, keeping her body from the belly up in the restroom. She grunted as she struggled to stay inside, looking at the camera with annoyance.

"Will Chef be mysteriously written out of this story in the next couple of chapters? Find out next time, in Total. Sibling. Rival-RYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" Chef finally succeeded in yanking her away, which sent the both of them flying down the corridor and causing the off-screen crash.


	44. Day 18, Part 1: Whodunit?

The campers that were in the mess hall looked tired, for the most part. Yesterday's challenge had exhausted them, and if that wasn't bad enough…

"When the frick is Selena going to stop crying?" Courtney irritably hissed, covering her ears with her hands.

"Crying?" Gwen snapped. "More like _screaming_!"

Duncan passed her with his tray of gruel, looking just as irritated. "It's not like it was easy for any of us, either. We had to sleep in the same cabin with her…"

As he sat down next to the open spot by Marilee, DJ gripped his head and said, "At least the wall between our rooms muffled her wails a little… I feel bad for the girls, though." He looked at Marilee, who was seated next to him and asked, "Did you guys get _any _sleep last night?"

Marilee looked up from her bowl, looking at him as if he grew two heads. "What?"

"Did you guys get any rest last night?" he repeated, talking louder and clearer.

"WHAT?" Marilee yelled, holding up a hand to her ear and making DJ flinch.

"I'm sorry, did I-"

"ALL I HEAR IS RINGING! "

* * *

"I THINK SELENA'S BANSHEE WAILS DID SOMETHING TO MY EARS," Marilee screamed, acting like she was talking normally. "HER SOBS WERE SHAKING OUR BUNK SO HARD, I HAD TO SLEEP ON THE FLOOR BECAUSE I KEPT FALLING OUT OF BED. I THINK I GOT MY EARS TOO CLOSE TO HER, THOUGH. EVERYTHING SOUNDS MUFFLED. I CAN BARELY HEAR MYSELF TALK. AM I SPEAKING LOUD ENOUGH?"

* * *

"This oughta be fun," Duncan muttered to himself with a devious smirk. He turned to her with a smile and calmly said, "Hey, Marilee. Have you done something different with your hair? It looks even stupider and more idiotic than usual."

Marilee blinked, trying to piece together the muffled noises that went through her ears, but then smiled and said in a normal tone, "Thank you, Duncan! I didn't think anyone would notice!"

He bit back a snigger and, with an upbeat tone, added, "And your perfume! It makes me want to blow chucks all over the place! You must have splashed around in the septic tank for at least an _hour_ to reek that much!"

She laughed, still not fully understanding what he was saying, and waved a nonchalant hand. "Haha, yeah. It took a while but it was worth it!" She smiled and nodded in approval. "You know, Caliver, you're actually sort of pleasant to be around this morning."

"Ooh, ooh, let me try!" Geoff cried with enthusiasm. He leaned over and said, "Hey, sis! I'm a lot smarter than you, and better looking, and people like me better than you, especially Mom! Oh, and you suck!"

Marilee gasped, then glared at him, grabbed her bowl of mush, and slowly dumped it over his head.

"… The ringing stopped, didn't it?" he weakly asked, wiping goop away from his eyes.

She gave a curt nod as she crossed her arms and continued to glare at him. "My hearing fully came back right after the thing about you being _so much smarter_ than me…"

He sat back down and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. He let out a chuckle and said, "I was just messing around! Y'know, just…" He saw that she wasn't going to buy anything he said, so he huffed in defeat and sat down.

Just then, Zoey and Grace walked in and sat down at their table, both sopping wet. Duncan looked them over, then asked, "Did you guys try to make Selena stop crying?"

The two girls nodded.

"Did that just make her cry more?"

They nodded again.

"Go get new clothes and dry your hair," Marilee told them, feeling Zoey's moist hair, then wiping her hand off on Duncan's shirt. "You smell like depression and contact lens fluid…"

"Maybe someone else should check up on her," Trent suggested, looking at his other teammates as Zoey and Grace headed out.

Marilee, even though her ears had stopped ringing, poked her pinky finger into her ear and rubbed it. It still hurt. "Thanks for volunteering, Cleft the Teen Chin Wonder."

"What?" Trent nervously looked at her. "I didn't volunteer! I don't know how to make her feel better! Why can't you do it? She's your best friend on the island!"

"True, but you're better with people and helping them feel better and stuff." Marilee crossed her arms and nodded. "Believe it or not, I'm not that good at being supportive."

"I never woulda guessed," Trent sarcastically said. "But why me? Why not Geoff or Duncan or-"

"Zoey and Grace already tried, Duncan or I would make things worse, Geoff's just an idiot and DJ would probably pee himself in fright if he saw her red, mascara-streaked face."

"I would not!" DJ whined.

"Well, you almost pooped your pants yesterday when you stepped on that potato chip on the sidewalk and thought you stepped on a bug, so it's not like it's implausible," Marilee told him, a bored expression on her face.

He leaned close to her ear and hissed, "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone about that!"

Marilee ignored him and said, "Trent, just do it! Please! I want to go to sleep and wake up with full hearing tomorrow morning!"

Trent sighed, standing up. "Fine, but you _so_ owe me." He walked out, not looking forward to what he had to do.

* * *

"Man, Marilee is bossy," Trent said, stating the obvious. "Dad, you'd better hope that apple has fallen as _far_ away from your lady tree as possible."

* * *

On the other side of the mess hall, Courtney was eyeing the Fighting Ferrets with great suspicion. She looked back at her three remaining teammates and quietly said, "Now that our team is half as big as theirs, we're going to have to watch our backs. They're going to try extra hard to make sure we lose."

"It's not like they're the craftiest team," Gwen pointed out, looking at the Ferret table again.

Geoff took a spoonful of his gruel, looked at it happily, and speedily brought it toward his face. He ended up getting it all over his left cheek, which made him moan, "Aww man, I missed my mouth _again_!"

"… That's a very good point," Courtney nervously said, looking down for a moment, but then back up. "But with Duncan's skills of persuasion, Marilee's assertiveness, and DJ and Trent's abilities to not be total idiots, they're practically unstoppable!"

"They're only unstoppable because we keep getting the double eliminations," Gwen muttered.

"Do you want a third double elimination?" Courtney snapped, shutting her eyes as she half-yelled at her. "Yeah, I didn't think so! All I'm saying is we'll have to be extra careful if we want to win. Right, Candace? …Candace?" She opened her eyes and gasped when she saw what Candace was doing.

She had gotten up, walked up to Geoff, and started wiping his cheek off with her napkin. "You need better aim, honey bun," she said with a cute giggle.

Geoff chuckled after she finished cleaning him off. "Thanks, my little Candy Cane," he affectionately said, pulling her into his lap.

She gently grabbed his face and cooed, "Anything for you, Geoffy pookums!"

As they nuzzled noses and made sickeningly sweet baby noises at each other, Courtney raced over and yanked her away from him. "Stop trying to distract us!"

"Distract you from what?" Geoff asked, looking very confused as he scratched his hat. "From breakfast? Do _you_ have trouble aiming the spoon at your mouth, too?"

Courtney didn't answer him and merely rolled her eyes as she dragged Candace back to the table and sat her down next to her. "What was that?"

"Oh, that's called an Eskimo kiss and-"

"No, not the nose thing," Courtney snapped. "You can't get too involved with Geoff when we're so far behind! You don't see me getting all cozy with Duncan! Even Gwen's not getting too caught up with Trent, and she never does anything she's told!"

"You never told me not to hang out with Trent," Gwen said, looking both confused and angry. "Besides, what right do you have to tell us not to be with our boyfriends?"

"Well, I was just getting ready to talk about that!" Courtney exclaimed. "As one of the team captains, it's my duty to suggest such things. Don't you think it's a good idea?" She crossed her arms and said, "If we're too busy making out with our boyfriends, then we'll never get anything done and-" She looked over at her third teammate and sheepishly grinned. "Oh, hi, Jovie… I sort of forgot you were here."

"Yeah, I figured so," Jovie said, clearly not amused. "Considering I'm the only single one on the team and all…"

"I thought you were dating Cody now," Gwen said, grabbing her mug of coffee. "I mean, we all saw you kiss him last night."

As she drank some of her joe, Jovie argued, "That was a friendly kiss. Beth gave him one last year too!"

"Didn't Cody say that he and Beth _dated _for a while after the show, though?" Candace asked, cockily smiling.

"Yeah, and then they ended up being cousins!"

"Are you and Cody cousins?"

"Of course not!"

"I fail to see the problem, then."

* * *

"Candace is absolutely hell-bent on getting me a man," Jovie commented, chin resting in the palm of her hand. "I think she's trying to help me, something about confidence, but I'm fine. 'Sides, this show's got couples coming out the behind! One more might make the island explode from all the lovin' going on!"

* * *

"Okay, fine, I'll back off of Geoff a bit," Candace mumbled with a pout. "Maybe we won't have to make much contact in today's challenge."

"With our luck, now that you've just said that, we'll be mud wrestling naked and Chris will partner you and Geoff up," Gwen said with a roll of the eyes.

Back at the Ferrets table, Duncan had just finished his slop and tossed his tray of dirty dishes on top of Marilee's. "Welp, I'm gonna watch Trent crash and burn." He started to walk off, but Marilee quickly stopped him.

"Um, do I look like a garbage can to you?" she angrily asked.

Duncan looked her over and shrugged. "You _are_ pretty trashy..." He snickered and raced off before she had a chance to kick him in his family jewels.

Marilee huffed. "Ugh! I wish I could kill him! And to think he said such nice things a while ago!" She picked up both trays and properly disposed of them before walking out to freshen up for the day again.

"If those two weren't taken, I'd start making bets on when they'd make out," DJ said with a chuckle.

"Bleh," Geoff mumbled, sticking his tongue out. "That's creepy on _all_ levels, dude…"

"I'll say," DJ agreed with a nod. He got up to throw his trash away, Geoff close behind.

"Good, they're gone," Courtney sighed, shoving her bowl aside. "Now we can strategize in peace."

"Aww, we're not done strategizing yet?" Candace childishly whined, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't wanna strategize! It's booooring! Can't we just-"

Courtney slammed her hand down on the table, signaling Candace to shut up. "We _need _to! Don't you see? We've pretty vulnerable right now! We have to keep an eye on them or else!"

"So… We're going to spy on them?" Jovie asked. "Like, see if they're plotting or something?"

"… That's actually not a bad idea," Courtney said, tapping her chin as she thought that over.

Jovie looked nervous, then said, "Courtney? I-I was just kidding…" She saw that Courtney wasn't listening, so sighed in defeat, resting her head in the palm of her hand.

"So, spying it is!" Courtney exclaimed, standing up. "Who wants to volunteer?" She looked at Gwen, who shot her look that showed she clearly didn't approve.

"I don't exactly blend in," Gwen pointed out, gesturing to her multi-colored hair and all black attire. "Why don't you do it?"

"Because…" Courtney thought for a moment, but couldn't think of a decent answer, so she weakly said, "Because I'm team captain, that's why!"

"Candace is team captain, too!"

"Good idea, Gwen!" Candace exclaimed, hopping up from her seat, hands clasped in joy. "I've wanted to be a spy since I was in kindergarten! Now if I can just be an astronaut, a princess and a urologist, I can die totally happy!" She suddenly gained a more serious demeanor, slid on a pair of dark black sunglasses she pulled out of nowhere, and stealthily lurked off.

* * *

"That wasn't the direction I was going in," Gwen admitted, looking upward in thought. "She seemed stoked about it, so I guess it's a win-win. And hey, better her than me. But seriously, who wants to be a _urologist _when they're six?"

* * *

Candace, still wearing her spy shades, said, "In my defense, back then I thought a urologist studied European money. Y'know, like euros? Uro? Sounds like Euro? For a six year old, that's a pretty decent analysis of the word!"

* * *

"I'm gonna see if Duncan's watching Trent try to awkwardly help Selena feel better," Gwen muttered to herself, looking toward the exit. "That's the last thing Trent needs right now…"

She stood up, but Courtney grabbed her wrist, stopping her before she could take a step. "Uh, that's okay! I'll do it!" she nervously exclaimed. "I mean, Duncan's pretty stubborn and-"

Gwen yanked her wrist away, rubbing it after Courtney practically death-gripped it. "I think I can handle it. Besides, Duncan tends to do the opposite of what you tell him to do, anyways." She walked off, leaving Courtney to anxiously watch her as she left.

Once she was out of sight, her anxiousness disappeared and was replaced with anger. "Just like _you_…" She grunted and sat back down next to Jovie. "Ugh! That girl makes me want to strangle somebody!"

Jovie nervously looked around the empty mess hall, then down at her bare wrist. "Oh, look at the time! I'd better… get dressed for the day!"

Courtney gave her an odd look and said, "Uh, Jovie, I was kidding. And you're already dressed."

"Ha ha ha! You said it!" Jovie nervously exclaimed, ignoring Courtney just like Courtney had previously ignored her. She ran out of the mess hall, leaving Courtney by her lonesome.

* * *

"Is it wrong to be worried about Duncan and Gwen being all buddy-buddy?" Courtney asked, more to herself than the camera. "I mean, they do have a lot in common… Don't get me wrong, I trust Duncan, but I don't know about Gwen." She narrowed her eyes. "She's been getting a little too close to him for comfort lately…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Trent stood outside the door to the girls side of the Fighting Ferrets cabin, nervously drumming his fingers together. "Okay, you can do this. Selena's your friend and she needs a shoulder to cry on… Even though she's crying because she had Zack break up with her in her mind and that's stupid…" He sighed and slowly opened the door, seeing that Selena was in her bottom bunk, back facing him, completely covered in her sheets. The fabric lump in her bunk quivered with each sob, which had at least gotten quieter since breakfast. Still, it was heartbreaking to see such a happy girl in this kind of state.

"Hey, Selena," Trent quietly said, still standing in the doorway. "Are you okay?"

After asking that, her sobs became ear-shattering again, making Trent cringe in pain.

* * *

"'_Are you okay_?' Out of all the things in the world to ask, I ask _THAT_?" Trent exclaimed as he slapped himself in the forehead. "Stupid!"

* * *

"Hey, c'mon," Trent said, sitting down on her bunk by her curled-up legs. "Zack hasn't really broken up with you. You shouldn't jump to conclusions like that unless you have actual _facts_ to support it with."

Selena, still not looking at him, sniffled and mumbled through the covers, "But I'm such a bad girlfriend! I swoon over other guys and junk! I'm, like, the worst girlfriend ever!"

"No, you're not," Trent told her, patting what he presumed to be her back, since the covers made it hard to tell. He chuckled and added, "Besides, you're forgetting that Keith has _Marilee_…"

"Marilee's one of my best friends, you meanie!" Selena whined, curling herself up even tighter and sobbing even louder.

* * *

Trent was silent for a moment, than slapped himself in the forehead again.

* * *

Trent quietly sighed, then looked back down at the covered-up Selena. "What will it take to make you feel better?"

"Death!"

His eyes widened as he tried to think of a response to that. "… How about ice cream instead?"

"… I guess that works, too."

"You've got to come out from under the covers first," Trent told her, yanking at her blanket, even though she had a death grip on it. He gave up, but coaxed, "Come on, let's see that beautiful face…"

Selena sighed, then slowly slipped her cloth shield away from her face and sat up. When he saw her mascara-streaked face, blood-shot eyes, messy hair, and her nose dripping with snot, he screamed in both fright and disgust and fell to the ground.

This only caused her to let out a wail and curl back up, throwing the musty blanket back over her head.

* * *

He slapped himself in the forehead nine times, then looked at the camera and asked, "Why couldn't I have been this terrible at sympathy last year with Heather?"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Most of the campers were sitting around either the mess hall, the shore, or the Ravens cabin, since they dared not go near the Ferrets cabin. Gwen had successfully dragged Duncan away from peeping through the window to watch Trent fail, and they were leaning on the Ravens cabin's railing, talking about some horror movie they both loved.

Courtney was seated on the picnic table a few feet away, bending a twig she had found. When she saw both her boyfriend and her Goth teammate laugh about something gory that he had mentioned, she snapped the twig in half and her eye twitched.

Marilee and Jovie, seated on the bench across from hers, gave each other looks with mixed expressions. "What's she freaking out for?" Marilee asked.

Jovie shrugged and said in a hushed tone, "I think she's jealous that Duncan's been spending more time with Gwen than her, but she's convinced it's because they _like _each other."

"Gwen and Buttface?" Marilee repeated, looking disgusted. "Gag. They both dress so horribly. At least with Courtney and Trent as their significant others, they balance their horrible fashion sense out a bit with their decent taste."

"I though you hated Trent."

"Nah, I hate his dad, the evil dictator slash accountant who has corrupted my mother. I'm just not fond of Trent, is all."

"Uh… Okay then," Jovie said, confused.

Courtney, who had been deafened with her jealousy, stood up and threw the remaining bits of her twig down on the ground and stomped off in the opposite direction of Gwen and Duncan.

Jovie looked down at the twig pieces and sadly said, "Aww. Poor twig. It was so young…"

Over by Gwen and Duncan, the two had finally finished discussing their blood-filled topic and Duncan looked toward the latrines. "Be right back. I gotta take a whiz."

"Boy, you are a class act, my friend," Gwen said with sarcasm, though her smirk clearly showed she didn't care either way.

Duncan chuckled, playfully punching her in the arm as he jumped over the railing and made his way towards the washrooms. After he was out of sight, Gwen went over and talked to DJ and Geoff for a while. That is, until a blood-curdling scream was heard. And it was coming from the communal washrooms.

Gwen, DJ and Geoff were the first ones to reach the washrooms, and they all screamed in horror at what they saw.

The walls of the outside of the restrooms were splattered with blood, and a huge butcher's knife, dripping in blood, was stuck in the wall. When the knife had been stabbed into the wall, a crimson-spotted note had been tacked up with it.

Sooner or later, the others, minus Selena, Trent, Zoey, Grace and Duncan showed up to the gory scene, all frozen in shock. Marilee was the last to get there and said, "What are you guys looking a-" Once she saw all the blood, she let out a loud scream, then dizzily fainted.

"Oh yeah," Jovie nervously said, looking down at her motionless figure. "Forgot she hates even the tiniest bit of blood…" She crouched down, rested Marilee's head in her lap, and fanned her face in attempts to cool her off.

Gwen slowly and fearfully walked toward the building, gently pulled the knife out of the wall and took the note between her thumb and pointer finger. Tossing the knife onto the grass, she gingerly opened the folded note and slowly read aloud, "That no-good punk had it coming to him…" Her eyes widened and she whispered, "Duncan…"

"DUDE! NOOOOOO!" Geoff cried, falling to his knees and shaking his fists toward the heavens. "Whyyyyyyyyy? He was so young!" He sobbed like a baby, while Candace crouched down and hugged him, also sobbing. Jovie was too busy trying to stir Marilee back into consciousness to do much mourning and DJ was in the fetal position, sucking his thumb and muttering something about his momma between sucks.

Courtney, a bored expression on her face, asked, "You guys are seriously buying this? How many times has someone been 'killed' on this show? It's obviously just pretend."

Candace sniffled and looked up at her. "But the blood looks so real!" Zoey suddenly walked up to the group, humming a happy little tune to herself. Candace saw her approach and tried covering her eyes. "Zoey, no! You're too young to see this!"

"See what?" Zoey managed to squirm away from Candace's hand and saw the blood splattered all over. Instead of screaming and/or crying like everyone thought she would do, she calmly walked up to the washrooms, slid a finger across a red splat, and sniffed said finger.

While the others looked on in confusion, Marilee finally gained consciousness. She pulled her head off of Jovie's lap, sat up and lazily squinted her eyes and rubbed her head. "Ugh, where am I?"

Zoey then stuck her bloody finger in her mouth and everybody else made noises of disgust. Marilee, on the other hand, gagged and vomited in her lap before fainting again. Jovie sighed in frustration, pinching her nose and fanning the vomit-covered girl with her free hand again.

Zoey popped her finger out of her mouth and looked up at Gwen, who was next to her. "This is pretend blood. It's just ketchup and corn syrup."

"What?" Gwen raised an eyebrow and asked, "How could you possibly know that?"

"Duncan makes it all the time," she explained, bending down to wipe her finger on the grass below her. "It smells different from real, yuckier blood.

"Ah, so it _is_ just a challenge!" Courtney exclaimed, feeling proud of herself. She suddenly looked worried and asked, "So… Where's Duncan, then?"

Chris, decked out as Sherlock Holmes, walked toward the group, a smoking pipe sticking out of his mouth. "Good day, children," he said in a bad British accent. He stuck the pipe back in his mouth and Courtney gasped.

"Hello! Young, impressionable child right here!" she exclaimed, pointing at Zoey.

Chris blew into the pipe and a few bubbles floated out. "Calm down, it's just a toy," he told her in his normal voice, tossing it aside. He looked at the scene, whistling. "Wow, what a mess, huh? And what's that smell?"

"It's either the ketchup blood or Miss Barf Crotch over there," Gwen said, jerking a thumb toward the knocked out Marilee.

"Tee hee," Geoff quietly giggled, standing up and helping Candace back onto her feet. "She said _crotch_…"

"Wrong! It's the smell of a good murder mystery!" Chris cried, tossing off his hat and pulling a magnifying glass out of nowhere. He held it up to his eye and said, "Who doesn't love a good mystery?"

"Me," Geoff said, raising his hand. "They're hard! I can never guess whodunit, so I just quit reading after the first few pages!"

Courtney gave him a look, then asked, "Geoff how could you possibly know you aren't guessing right if you haven't ever finished one of the books? And how would you even _be able _to guess? You'd barely know what was going on in the story!"

"… Does reading more than the first ten pages help?"

Chris ignored them and continued, "You'd better keep your eyes peeled, kiddies, 'cause there's a murderer on the loose!" He wiggled his fingers and spookily bellowed, "Oooooooooooo!"

"Lemme guess, we have to find the murderer?" Gwen asked, not looking excited about yet another challenge.

"You have to find out which one of _you_ is the murderer!" he cried, scanning his finger over each contestant. "One of you has been specifically chosen to be the killer. You need to either find clues or use deductive reasoning to figure out whodunit, but do it quick. Duncan will not be his or her only victim!" He dramatically waved his cloak and exclaimed, "Sherlock, away!" He raced off, leaving the campers to look both worried and confused.

Courtney turned to Candace and Gwen and said, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's move!" Candace and Gwen started to race off, but before the former CIT could, she looked back at Jovie. She was still trying to make Marilee wake up, but to no avail. "Jovie, come on!"

"Oh, sorry!" Jovie quickly popped up, making Marilee flop roughly onto the ground, belly-down. "Oops! Sorry, girl!" Even though she knew she couldn't hear her, she still couldn't help but feel bad as she ran off with Courtney.

DJ looked as they sprinted off, then looked back at Geoff and Zoey. "Okay, we're down by three people…" He looked down at Marilee and added, "Uh, make that four and… Wait, where's Grace?"

Zoey shrugged. "I think she said she was gonna see Trent."

"Okay, _five_ people," DJ irritably sighed.

"We can still do this!" Geoff cheered, pumping his fist. "Mar's probably gonna wake up sooner or later, so we'll at least have four people. Should we get the other three who aren't all dead and stuff?"

"Selena's still cryin' and Trent's makin' it worse," Zoey explained. "They're not gonna be much help. What about Grace?"

Geoff sadly shook his head before crouching down. "If she was wandering around, little dudette's probably a goner by now…" Zoey looked down at her feet in sadness, so Geoff patted her back and reassuringly said, "But we can do this! How about you go look for clues with DJ and I'll wake Marilee up and go with her?"

Zoey nodded, running over to DJ and clinging onto his leg. "Try not to lose me this time!"

"Try not to wander off this time!" DJ said back, though he still smiled at her. She was so cute, it was hard not to.

"I'll hose off Mar," Geoff said, standing up. "Go on without us."

DJ jokingly saluted him and said, "Good luck, team captain."

Geoff saluted his friend as he walked off with Zoey still clinging to his leg. Geoff walked over to where Marilee was laying and picked her up in his arms. Unfortunately, he could only position her so that one of her barf-covered cheeks was laying right on the part of his chest that was uncovered. "Gross, gross, gross," he whined as he walked into the washrooms and shut the door.

*T*S*R*

"Mission Impossible Time!" Candace cried as the four ran into their cabin and Gwen slammed the door.

"Mission Impossible wasn't about murders," Gwen said, leaning on the recently slammed door.

Candace rolled her eyes. "Well, how would I know? I'm not all old and in my twenties and stuff."

"And you think I am?" Gwen asked, pushing herself gently off the door.

"Guys, quiet down," Courtney said in a hushed tone. "First of all, Candace, you're not really _old_ until you're forty and wearing mom jeans… Second off all, we need to strategize." She turned back at Candace and asked, "Did you manage to get some snooping in?"

"Well, Trent was with Selena and Duncan was talking to Gwen before he got all murdered and stuff, but I got a few nuggets of information from DJ and Geoff when I spied on them from a bush."

"Really? What did you find out?"

"Well, DJ likes Nickelback, no matter what anyone says, which is good for him And did you know that Geoff doesn't like All Time Low?" Candace shrugged and mumbled, "You'd think he'd be the kinda guy who likes All Time Low…"

Courtney stared at her with an unimpressed expression and said, "You're supposed to be finding out about their strategy, not their musical preferences!"

"Maybe they aren't going to plan anything…" Gwen sat down on her bunk and continued, "Geoff, DJ and Trent aren't really schemers and Selena can't even drink out of a glass without pouring it all over herself."

"What about Duncan and Marilee?" Courtney asked. "Duncan managed to get almost all of the guys to vote Bridgette off last year." She chuckled and looked at Gwen nervously. "Yep, my boyfriend sure is conniving. No wonder my boyfriend was the first to be whacked. Poor _**my boyfriend**_!" she stressed, not even trying to be subtle. Gwen didn't really understand what she was emphasizing for, though.

"And Marilee got a lot of people to vote Zack off," Jovie pointed out. "Girl knows how to scheme when someone messes with her friends…" She remembered what she did to Keith and squeaked, clutching her hands together.

"Okay then," Candace said, heading toward the window. "I'll keep an eye on Marilee, then… If she's woken up yet…"

A loud, girlish scream filled the air and all four girls headed toward the window to see what it was. It was Geoff screaming as he raced away from the washrooms, and he was a few yards away from their window before he was tackled by Marilee, who was barf-free, but sopping wet.

She pinned his arms behind his back so he couldn't pull her off, and he whimpered as her nails dug into his arms. "I'm sorry! I was just trying to help!"

She pushed harder down on his arms and screamed, "By throwing me in the shower and turning it on full-blast?"

He wriggled to get free, but it was hard, since she had a death grip on his arms and was sitting on him. "I figured I'd clean you up and wake you up at the same time! And you looked like you were having fun at first! You were splashing around and everything!"

"I was DROWNING!"

He finally managed to throw her off of him and he hopped up and ran away, screaming his head off. Marilee pulled herself back up and started chasing him, yelling threats as she ran.

The girls looked a bit disturbed by that scene, but Candace was the first one to speak. "Uh… Yeah. Maybe I should follow her… I could always go out of hiding and keep her from killing him." She slipped her dark sunglasses back on, then jumped out of the open window and tuck and rolled her way into a bush.

*T*S*R*

Duncan, laying on the ground, finally awoke, then sat up and rubbed his aching head. "Ugh, where am I?" His hand traced along a rather large bump on the back of his head, which made him worry a bit. He looked around, seeing nothing but darkness. He heard a noise, then called out, "Who's there?" His eyes narrowed and he barked, "Show yourself, you coward!" He hopped up, clenching his fists. "You think you can take me out a second time? Bring it on! At least have the guts to do it to my face!"

"Eeep, he's gonna kill us!" a mystery voice squeaked.

"No he won't, Holly. He may be mean, but he's not going to punch two girls," another mystery voice told the first. The person behind the voice turned on a flashlight, revealing Holly and Tamyra.

"Oh…" Duncan looked disappointed. "Yeah, I guess I can't hit you two… Where are we?"

"We're not allowed to say," Holly told him. "Sorry about the bump."

He shrugged. "Meh, no big deal. I've gotten worse during breakfast at Juvie… I guess this was all for a challenge?"

Tamyra nodded. "Yep. You've been murdered."

Duncan wasn't taken back by that statement. "Huh. I knew Courtney would snap sooner or later."

*T*S*R*

Candace climbed up into a tree, quicker than a squirrel, and rested in the crook of a branch. She saw two people walking toward her, so she slid her sunglasses back on and pulled a spiral notebook out from behind her back, along with a pen. "Spy time!" she whispered to herself.

Marilee, still dripping wet, was walking with Geoff through the forest, in hopes of finding some clues. "You know what I just noticed?"

"That you have a cruel sense of humor?" Geoff bitterly suggested, pointing to the rock that was stuck in his forehead, just like it had been the previous night.

Marilee huffed and told him, "I said I was sorry."

"… True," Geoff quietly said, nodding. "You don't usually apologize to people. You didn't even apologize to Duke when you broke his leg."

"I did not break his leg," Marilee stubbornly said. "He broke his own stupid leg by falling out of that window."

"Right." Geoff scoffed and then air-quoted as he emphasized, "_Fell_!"

"Fell, was kicked, same difference," Marilee mumbled, waving a dismissive hand. "But I noticed at breakfast that there are only three families who still have two or more members still on the island. There's you and me, Duncan, Selena and Zoey, and there's also Trent and Grace. Take note that all the people I listed are on our team."

"Yeah. So?" Geoff asked, confused.

"Sooner or later, the other team's going to realize that. And then when we merge, they're probably going to pick us off one by one."

"What?" Geoff gasped, stopping in his tracks. "My little Candy Corn would never vote me off!"

_That's so true! _Candace thought, since they were getting close enough that talking out loud might be a bad idea.

"I'm sure your… little _Candy Corn _wouldn't," Marilee told him, cringing a bit at the sugary sweetness of that nickname. "But surely the others would. DJ might even try when we merge."

"But DJ's my best bud! Gwen and Jovie are my friends, too. And Courtney doesn't hate me… I think."

"Your guy friends didn't have anything against Bridgette either, but they still voted for her last year," Marilee pointed out. Geoff _did_ have to agree with that. "I'm just saying, maybe we should be proactive and take precautions to make sure our chances of getting voted off are as unlikely as possible."

"… Could you say that again, but with less words?" Geoff asked, rubbing his head. "The rock's making my brain all numb again."

She yanked the rock out of his forehead and irritably whispered, "I think we should start an alliance with one of the other families. Trent's lame, so I was thinking Selena, Zoey, and Duncan. He hates me and I hate him, but hey, that's one less vote against me… Besides, he and Courtney aren't on that great of terms. He's gonna need all the help he can get."

_An Alliance? _Candace bit her lip to keep from gasping and started jotting down notes.

Geoff thought it over, nodding. "You've got some good points, sis… Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea. I just feel bad about joining an alliance without Candace. It feels wrong leaving out the girl I'm in like with."

"Yeah, well-" She paused, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "In like?"

"Yeah," Geoff said with a nod. "I rushed into the love thing with Bridgette like a few days into the relationship and it didn't end well. I want to take things slow with Candy. Just enjoying the ride instead of hurrying toward the destination, y'know?"

Candace was so touched that she accidentally let out an "Aww!" She slapped her hand over her mouth, but it was luckily quiet enough that neither of the siblings heard.

"Huh," Marilee gave him a look, but not her usual irritated expression. It looked more like she was impressed. "That's actual _not_ stupid of you. The opposite of stupid, actually." Geoff's baby blue eyes widened and they quickly filled with tears. Marilee suddenly looked concerned. "Are… you okay, Geoff?" she slowly asked.

"Th-Th-That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me!" He started sobbing hysterically, burying his face into his hands.

Marilee rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smirk. She patted his shaking back and said, "There there, big guy. Let's go find some clues… Or at least some tissues."

They were right under Candace's tree, so she tried curling herself up tighter so they couldn't see her. Curling up so tight made her lose her grip on her notebook and it fell right on Geoff's head.

"Ow!" he cried, rubbing the top of his head. He looked up inside the tree, but Candace had already crawled over to a branch on the other side of the tree by that point. "The heck?" he muttered, rubbing his head some more.

Marilee noticed the notebook that landed by her feet and picked it up. "Here's the culprit." She picked it up and her eyes widened as she read, "Calivers and Andersons forming alliance… Keep eyes on them… Can't be trusted…" She raised an eyebrow at the last note and read aloud, "Geoff's butt looks totally smexy from this angle?"

"Aww, thanks, sis!" Geoff said, beaming with pride from the compliment for his smexy buttocks. Marilee smacked him with the notebook, knocking him over.

"Looks like we've got more to worry about than murderers…" She narrowed her eyes as she looked around. "You hear me, you little rat?" she screamed. "When I find out who you are, you're _dead_!" She clenched her fists, threw them up in the air and screamed, "_**DEAAAD**_!"

Candace gulped, and as soon as Marilee ran out of sight, Geoff close behind her, she jumped out of the tree and sprinted in the opposite direction as quickly as possible.

*T*S*R*

"What kind of clues are we even supposed to be looking for?" Jovie asked as she, Gwen and Courtney walked into the empty mess hall.

"More notes, maybe some stray possessions," Gwen listed, bending over to look under one of the tables. "A limp, lifeless body might help, too…"

"Chris is making this too hard," Courtney commented, lifting up one of the stumps they used as chairs. "We've been looking for a while now. There are lots of people still on the island, another one should have been killed off by now!"

* * *

"**Please** let the next one be Courtney," Gwen pleaded to the Heavens. "I swear, the only thing that could stop that girl from whining is a knife in her throat! And that's only if you hit the vocal chords in the right place. If not, then she'd complain how her attacker didn't do it right!"

* * *

"Did Gwen say bad things about me in here?" Courtney asked, looking around the outhouse skeptically. "I can practically _feel_ her Goth hatred floating around in here!"

* * *

"I wonder what they did with Duncan," Gwen muttered out of nowhere, checking under a plate left over from breakfast.

"Why do you care?" Courtney snapped, not even looking up as she kneeled down and tossed the logs out of the fireplace and by Gwen's feet.

Gwen kicked her feet up, raising an eyebrow at Courtney. "Um, because I have compassion for other human beings when they're being used as Chris's plot devices? Seriously, what's up with you lately?"

"I just think you're getting too close to Duncan for comfort, that's all," Courtney said, trying her best not to freak out on Gwen as she patted her hand around the fireplace.

"Guys, come on," Jovie began, walking between the two. "Can you ju-"

"What? You think… I have a boyfriend, you know!" Gwen cried, standing up.

"Gwen, she's just sa-"

"Yeah, but you don't see me getting all buddy-buddy with Trent, now do you?" Courtney spat, standing back up and spinning around to glare at the Goth.

"Courtney, maybe-"

"Oh, don't tell me you're one of those people who thinks guys and girls can't just be friends!" Gwen yelled, narrowing her dark eyes at Courtney. She walked over to her, walking past Jovie.

"C'mon, we have to-"

"I don't, but right as you two started hanging out more, Duncan and I have been arguing more and more! Coincidence?" Courtney was in her face by this point.

"Can't you two just-"

"Yeah, because you're on separate teams and that brought out both of your competitive sides," Gwen bitterly pointed out, her nose touching Courtney's.

Jovie walked over to Gwen and tried to pull her away from Courtney. "Please, we need to-"

"You two started hanging out after the cameras were off. You can't tell me you weren't trying to hide something!"

"Hey, who wants some apple pie?" Jovie cheered as she let go of Gwen, mostly to cause a distraction.

Her two teammates continued to ignore her. "You are so paranoid!" Gwen shouted, throwing her hands in the air. "Why hasn't Duncan dumped your crazy ass yet?"

"WHY, YOU LITTLE-"

Before Courtney could tackle Gwen, the lights flickered off and the room was enveloped in darkness.

"What did you do now, Gwen?" Courtney screamed.

"What? You think this is _my_ fault?" Gwen exclaimed.

"I certainly didn't do it and Jovie couldn't have done it! She isn't even here!"

"Yes, I am!" Jovie exclaimed sadly. "You guys just keep ignoring me!"

Once again, the older girls were too busy bickering to notice her. "You're doing stuff just to spite me now! You're despicable, you know that? How could Duncan lower himself to even being _friends _with someone like you?

Gwen, fuming mad, screamed, "You know what, Courtney? You can go fu-!" Before she could finish her swear, Gwen's mouth sounded like it was being covered, since she let out loud screams, but they came out as mere muffles. Things sounded like they were being knocked over as heavy combat boots dragged against the wooden floor. The lights flickered on after a few more seconds and Courtney and Jovie were alone in the room, a few splats of blood and a note the only thing to be seen.

Courtney, trying to avoid touching the fake blood, picked up the note and read aloud, "After what she did, that Goth freak had it coming…"

Jovie blinked her wide eyes in fright, then looked over at Courtney. "This isn't looking good for you, girl…"

Courtney looked up at Jovie, shocked. "Jovie! When did you get here?"

*T*S*R*

Before Trent managed to drag Selena out of bed, DJ and Zoey stopped by the cabin to give the heads up on the challenge for the day. Well, Zoey did. DJ screamed in fright and ran away when he saw Selena, just like Marilee had predicted.

Keeping an eye out for Chef or any murderers, Trent dragged Selena into the back door to the kitchen and sat her down on a stool by the kitchen island. "Okay, now if I make you a sundae, will that cheer you up enough so that we can help with this challenge?"

Selena traced her finger along the grooves in the island made by various knives and grumbled, "I guess. Make it with sprinkles and a cherry. And love."

Trent chuckled. "Okay then…"

*T*S*R*

Candace raced across the forest floor, desperately trying to find her way out. "Gotta… Find… Courtney…" she wheezed. "Tell her… about… alliance… and… smexy butt!" Once she saw she had reached the river, the exact opposite of where she was trying to go, she decided to take a breather by the beaver dam. She sat down by it, sitting Indian-style and wiping her sweaty forehead off with the back of her hand.

She flopped onto her back, looking up at the clear blue sky. "Marilee must have figured out it was me by now… Who else would write about Geoff's butt?"

* * *

"-Someone who's _blind,_ that's who!" Marilee cried, the video starting during the middle of her rant. "Hello, I was standing right next to him! How could they notice his barely there butt when they could be looking at all **this**?" She stood up and sexily shook her booty for the camera, then looked over her shoulder and stated, "Seriously, even straight chicks can't help but look! That's how smexy it is!"

* * *

"She's gonna kill me, I just know it!" she squealed, sitting up and bringing her knees toward her chest. "Knowing about their alliance won't do us any good if they know we know!"

She heard a twig snap and her head spun around. "H-Hello?" Candace weakly called out. "Marilee?" She shakily stood up and said, "Sorry about the spying! And talking about your brother's butt!"

Nobody spoke out, so she called out, "Marilee? Is that you?"

All of a sudden, a darkly-dressed, muscular figure jumped out of one of the bushes nearby and landed right in front of Candace. She screamed and tried to run away, but the man grabbed her in a bear hug hold and slapped a piece of tape over her mouth. She kicked and screamed and tried to break away, but he was too strong for her and the tape muffled her cries for help. He pulled out a small canister with his free hand, opened the lid and tossed corn syrup blood all over the dam and the grassy ground by it, running off with the redhead soon after.

*T*S*R*

Trent had finally finished the ice cream treat for Selena, complete with sprinkles and a cherry. Why Chef had this stuff when they usually ate slop, Trent had no idea, but he wasn't complaining. "Here you go," Trent said, sliding the sundae across the island to her.

Selena looked at it, then back up at him with a 'what an idiot' expression. "Do I look _stupid _to you, Trent?"

"… Uh…"

"I said make it with _love_. I ain't feelin' the love, Trent."

"Oh. Sorry." Trent picked the sundae up. He looked at it for a second, then handed it back to her. "Here you go… sweetheart?"

For the first time that day, she smiled. "Thank you!"

As she started eating, Trent sighed in relief, but that relief didn't last long. He heard footsteps in the mess hall, along with hushed talking. "Uh, Selena, maybe we should head out." It probably wasn't the 'murderer', but he wasn't going to take the chance.

"But I just started!" Selena said, holding up the sundae bowl and spoon.

"Take it with you," he told her as she hopped up and walked out the back door with him.

*T*S*R*

Marilee, after ranting and raving in the confessional for a while, made her way through the woods with Geoff once more. "Who do you think did it?" Marilee asked. "It could be any of the Ravens."

"The butt comment makes me think it might be Candace," Geoff quietly said, looking down at his feet.

Both exchanged glances for a moment, but then burst out laughing. "Pfft! Like Candace would spy on someone!" Marilee scoffed, wiping a tear away.

"Haha, yeah! That would be way too sinister of her!" Geoff laughed, sighing. "Okay, Candy's obviously out." They kept walking and he suggested, "Maybe Courtney?"

Marilee was about to object to it, but shut her mouth and nodded. "Yeah… She was acting suspicious at breakfast…" She raised an eyebrow at her brother and asked, "Did you take some stupid suppressant this morning?"

Geoff shrugged, grinning with pride. "I guess. Let's keep looking…" They stopped by the river and looked around. "There's got to be clues around here," Geoff commented, back turned to his sister. "There are always dead bodies floating in rivers…"

"Dam!"

"Marilee, there's no need to cuss about it," Geoff said, his back still turned to her. "We'll find something sooner or later."

"No, look at the _beaver _dam!" She forcefully turned his head toward the dam, which still had ketchup blood splattered on it.

"Oh!" Geoff ran over to it with Marilee, who picked up the note.

She unfolded it, and squinted as she read, "Nobody's that happy unless they're up to something. I did it for the best…"

Geoff looked as if he was thinking hard about that, then his eyes widened and he gasped. "CANDACE!" He fell to his knees and shook his fists at the Heavens. "When will the mayhem stooooooop?" He sobbed and sobbed, while Marilee awkwardly stood next to him.

"Uh… You realize she's not really dead, right?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"… Oh yeah."

*T*S*R*

Back at Chris' headquarters, Mia was flipping through papers in a manila folder. She slammed it back down on his desk, then looked over at Grace, who was on the edge of said desk. "There's nothing in Chris' file on Gwen that we can use against her."

"Are you sure?" Grace asked, clearly irritated. "No prison records at all?"

"If it were Duncan you wanted to get rid of, we'd have plenty to work with… but no." Mia crossed her arms, leaning farther back in Chris' swivel chair. "Can we just give up?"

"No!" Grace cried, pulling another file out of the open drawer under her feet. "If we can't find stuff to use against _Gwen_, then we need to find something to use against her _team."_ She opened up the file and added, "The weaker the team, the weaker the Goth!" She looked at the paperwork inside the file, then sighed. "I wish I knew how to read."

Mia rolled her eyes, snatched the file from her and read it over. Something in particular caught her eyes, which quickly widened. "Huh. This might work…"

"What might work?" Grace asked, eyebrow raised.

Mia looked around, then leaned over to whisper what she learned into the younger girl's ear. Grace's eyes widened, and she looked down at the photo of the girl paper clipped to the file. She gave a devious smirk, nodding. "Yeah… Yeah, that's all the dirt we need…"


	45. Day 18, Part 2:Elementary, My Dear Jovie

Marilee and Geoff had left the scene of Candace's murder and arrived at the mess hall to find the evidence from Gwen's murder. Marilee picked up the note, nodding after she read it. "Hmm. Seems like our murderer doesn't like our local Goth girl…"

"So it's Duncan, Candace and Gwen?" Geoff asked, picking up the note and looking over it. "Uh, let's see… Who hates all three of those people?"

"Does _anybody_ hate Candace?" Marilee asked, leaning on the table that wasn't covered in blood.

"I don't," Geoff said, still looking at the note.

"Oh, really?" Marilee said, her voice dripping in sarcasm. "I'm sure Candace would be tickled to know that. Every girls likes to think that their boyfriend doesn't hate them…"

"Maybe they murdered her… to get her out of the way? For some reason?" Geoff weakly guessed, looking up from the note at the other blonde.

"Yeah…" Marilee nodded and crossed her arms. "Yeah, you might be on to something… Wait, remember this morning? Courtney got all mad because you and Candace were being all couple-ish and gross and distracting?"

"Yeah," Geoff said with a nod, still looking confused. "But… Does that…"

"She could have killed Candace for bringing her team down," Marilee said, gesturing all over the blood-covered room.

"But… that would just bring her team down by one member," Geoff pointed out.

Marilee shrugged and told him, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. The few is Candace."

"… Did you just quote Star Trek?"

"What?" Marilee raised an eyebrow, sat down and said, "O-Of course not! I've never watched Star Trek a day in my life!"

"Riiiiight…" Geoff chuckled and crossed his arms, leaning against a wall. "First you make a Fairly Odd Parents reference at breakfast and now you're quoting old sci-fi shows?" Geoff shook his head and smirked. "You're a nerd."

"I am not!" Marilee stood up and stomped her foot. "I must have heard that quote from somebody else! Star Trek is a completely lame show and I wouldn't be caught dead watching it!"

Geoff shrugged. "Okay then. Let's keep looking for clues…" He started toward the door, but quickly spun around and asked, "Kirk or Picard?"

"Kirk, duh!" Marilee exclaimed without thinking.

"HA!" Geoff exclaimed, pointing at her.

Marilee's eyes widened and she held her hands up and screamed, "NO! I mean, a lot of people who have never watched the show know who William Shatner's character is and-"

Geoff ran out of the mess hall and called out, "Hey, everybody! **Marilee's a nerd**!"

"GEOFF!" Marilee wailed, running after him.

* * *

"Okay, I've watched a _few _episodes, but it really was only a few!" Marilee guiltily admitted. "It was on between two of my favorite shows and I had nothing better to do sometimes and…" She gripped the sides of her head and screamed, "That idiot! I am _so_ not sitting next to him this Thanksgiving! Then he'll have to sit next to Uncle Norb and he smells like man-boob sweat!" She crossed her arms and smirked victoriously. "Yeah, that'll show Geoff!"

* * *

"Before I found out Marilee's dark, nerdy secret, I found something on the scene of Candace's murder," Geoff said, looking deep in thought. "I think it might be a clue, but I'm going to need more…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

"It's got to be Marilee," Courtney said, walking into the forest with Jovie.

"Maybe," Jovie muttered, looking around at all the trees. "She does seem like the type of person to snap and kill people for kicks… But Chris thought all this up so there'd be a _reason_ for the murders, so there has to be some thought process behind it…"

Courtney stopped for a moment, and Jovie stopped too. "Wait a minute. This morning, at breakfast…" Courtney thought back to just a few hours before then…

* * *

_After Duncan insulted Marilee and left her with his garbage, she was fuming mad. "Ugh! I wish I could kill him!" Her eyes flashed from a baby blue color to a blood red one and she pulled a butcher knife out from behind her back. As two small tufts of blonde hair on the sides of her head slowly curled up to look like devil's horns, she deviously grinned and whispered, "Maybe I CAN…" She let out an evil cackle and ran after him, thus ending Courtney's exaggerated flashback._

* * *

"… You had a good point up until the demonic part," Jovie commented, looking at Courtney like she had grown another head.

Courtney shrugged. "Maybe that was an exaggeration."

"You think?"

"But she really did say she wanted to kill him! Chris could have very well used that as means to make her the murderer he chose!"

"I guess," Jovie said as they kept walking. "But why would she kill Gwen? I mean, by Chris' reasoning? …She _did _said she dressed horribly this morning. And Marilee _does_ hate people who dress horribly..."

"Gwen certainly fits into that category," Courtney muttered, rolling her eyes. "Okay, if we find out she killed Duke next, then we'll know for sure it's her."

"Duke isn't even here anymore," Jovie reminded her.

Courtney narrowed her eyes and pointed at her. "She's determined. She'd find a way." Before anything else could be said, they arrived by the fake blood-splattered dam and gasped once they saw Candace's spy shades in a pile of blood.

"Oh God, Candace!" Jovie cried, looking worried even though she knew Candace wasn't really dead.

Courtney picked up the discarded note and read it over. "Hmm… Would Marilee kill Candace, though?"

"I guess she wouldn't…" Jovie kneeled down to look for more clues, but found none. "She'd be above killing her brother's girlfriend… At least _Geoff's_ girlfriend. I don't think she'd have a problem with offing Raven."

* * *

"No offense, sis!" Jovie said with a guilty laugh. "It's just, well… Nobody likes you that much! But at least it wasn't anything you didn't know before, right?"

* * *

"I mean, Marilee actually seems to _like_ Geoff… Even if she has a weird way of showing it," Jovie pointed out, looking back up at the former CIT. "And Candace is her friend, too."

"Candace is _everybody's_ friend," Courtney said, like it was obvious, which it was. "And besides, this isn't about friends. It's about Chris using small details to form a motive for murder…"

As she continued to think, Jovie started getting off-topic. "Ugh, look at this grass," Jovie sadly sighed, plucking a limp, brown blade of grass out of the middle of a splat of blood. "This nasty blood gunk killed it. This stuff is a hazard! It'll probably kill the beavers in that dam!"

* * *

A beaver was seated in the Confession Can, some of the fake blood on its tail. It brought the blood-covered tail to its mouth and licked a bit off. Instead of vomiting or dying, the creature chattered in approval and ravenously licked the rest off of its tail.

* * *

"Jovie, half of the grass on this island is already dead," Courtney said as Jovie stood back up. "Now, I just remembered something. Remember last night, on the plane… ?"

* * *

_Candace was talking to Gwen on the bleachers in the elimination room of the jumbo jet, so she was completely unaware that Geoff was ogling her from afar. _

_Marilee noticed this and smacked his arm. As he whined and rubbed the red spot, Marilee told him, "Stop drooling over Candace! You can't let her get in the way of the competition!" Courtney, who was leaning on a wall nearby, eating her peanuts, couldn't help but observe the two. Okay, she could have, but she wanted to see what they were up to._

"_Gaaawsh, I wooooon't!" Geoff whined like a baby._

"_I know you, Geoff," Marilee said, eyes narrowed. "You _will_. We have to focus on leading the Ferrets to victory. As the captains of our team, it's our duty to keep out teammates in line. That means-"_

_Geoff began giggling like a moron and after Marilee shot him a confused glance, he squeaked out, "You said _doody_!" between laughs. He continued laughing as he walked off. Marilee groaned at his immaturity and crossed her arms. She looked back over at Candace, an expression on her face that made it hard to determine what was on her mind. However, Courtney knew it couldn't have been anything good…_

* * *

"No, I don't remember," Jovie said, raising an eyebrow. "Because I ain't a stalker."

"My point _is_," Courtney continued, irritation clear in her tone, "now we know it has to be Marilee! Let's go find Chris!"

* * *

"I know this is Chris' fault and not Courtney's, but how does she not know _she's_ actually the murderer?" Jovie asked, looking at the camera, confused. "I mean, it's not like he told the person he chose that they were the murderer. It could be me for all we know! Or DJ or-" She snorted and finished, "Even _Zoey_!"

* * *

*T*S*R*

"Let's see… How to tell Chris about this," Grace mused, kicking her feet back and forth as she sat on the desk, still looking down at the file in her lap.

"You would think he would already know about this," Mia mused, resting her chin in the palm of her hand. "But I guess this is why he made me look through these files today, since he was too lazy to file them himself before the show started…"

Grace ignored Mia and continued quietly talking to herself. "I could just say it in front of everybody…" She shook her head. "No, Trent is part of everybody and then he'll know I'm doing bad stuff…"

"I mean, how did he know the newbies weren't serial killers or something?" Mia asked, talking more to herself now than Grace. "He couldn't have known beforehand that Duke was an alcoholic or he probably wouldn't have let him on the show… How has McLean not gotten fired yet?"

"Maybe I could tell Chris in private and…" Grace shook her head. "No. He might tell Trent to get me in trouble just 'cause Chris is a buttface. There's got to be some way to tell him…"

"I could tell him," Mia said, not looking too interested in it either way.

"What's the fun in that?" Grace said. "I wanna tell him!"

"Then tell him!"

"Weren't you listening?" Grace groaned, hopping off the desk and onto the floor. "No, there's got to be a more discrete way where I get to enjoy her and her team's pain without anybody knowing me or you did it." She walked out of the office, Mia slowly behind her. "We'll need to think of something…"

"The money had better be worth all this," Mia grumbled quietly to herself.

*T*S*R*

As Trent and Selena made their way back to their cabin, Selena meekly looked down at her half-finished sundae, then back up at Trent. She wiped her face off on her shirt sleeve so it wasn't covered in tears, streaked make-up and ice cream anymore and sniffled. "Um, Trent? I-I just wanted to say thanks. Y'know, for being so nice to me the past two days."

"Hey, no problem," Trent said, patting her lightly on the back. "Look, I know you're sad about your… uh, 'breakup' with Zack and all but… Maybe you should call him? Like, the real him, not the one in your head."

"I would, but my cell phone broke last night," she told him.

"What? How?"

"I… put it in my Mountain Dew."

Trent stared at her blankly, not knowing what to say.

"I wanted to see if it would break!" Selena nervously exclaimed, as if that justified her actions.

* * *

"Looks like she got her answer, huh?" Trent asked the camera.

* * *

"I guess you can use my cell phone then," he said as they kept walking toward the cabins. "I think I left it in the cabin…"

"After I talk to him, we can help out with the challenge, right?" Selena asked. "I'll bet Courtney's the murderer!"

"Really? What makes you think that?"

"Because… She's _Courtney_!"

"Good reasoning," Trent sarcastically said, rolling his eyes. He opened the door to his side of the cabin and both of them stepped in. Trent walked over to his bunk while Selena hung back by the open door and continued to eat. "Huh, that's weird. I left it on my bed this morning…"

As he lifted up the covers to look for his phone, the large, darkly-clothed figure that had snatched Candace before came up behind Selena and grabbed her by her arms. She let out a blood-curdling scream once she looked up at his masked face.

"Calm down, Selena, I'll find it," Trent said, his back still turned to her as he searched his bunk.

The mysterious man pulled out some duct tape and slapped it over Selena's screaming mouth. The man was kind enough to splash some corn syrup-ketchup blood around the doorway and drop a note before he started to haul her out. She stomped on the ground to call out to Trent as she was dragged away, though she accidentally slammed her head on the open door and dropped her empty sundae glass.

"Sheesh, don't throw a fit," Trent told her as he finally turned around and held up his phone. "I found it…" His eyes widened once he saw the bloody scene and shattered sundae glass and he cried out, "Selena!" He ran out of the cabin, carefully avoiding the blood puddles and glass shards to go look for her.

* * *

"Man, I should have known the murderer would target one of us next!" Trent exclaimed, slapping his forehead. "Well, now that she's gone, I can actually participate." He scratched his chin and said, "Okay, DJ said the crime scenes would be covered in blood and they each have a note… Maybe I should go back to my cabin. I never read Selena's note and-"

The door to the Confession Can suddenly flew open and fake blood flew all over Trent and the Confession Can. The dark hand of the mysterious man grabbed him by the front of his shirt and yanked him out before he even had the chance to scream, then tossed a folded note onto the toilet paper holder. The door slammed and the camera went to static.

* * *

*T*S*R*

"Let's see who else Marilee has killed," Courtney said, walking with Jovie toward the cabins, since they had heard screams coming from that direction.

"You really shouldn't jump to conclusions," Jovie said. "In every mystery book I've ever read, the one who jumps to conclusions is always either wrong or the one who actually… did it…" Jovie's dark eyes widened and she quickly looked to the side to avoid Courtney suspecting something by her facial expression. "Uh, yeah… I'll be right back…"

* * *

"Aww, this is just nasty!" Jovie exclaimed, standing in the blood-covered outhouse with the murder note in her hand. "I'm sad that Trent's dead and all, but did they really have to kill him in here of all places? Why not the washrooms? In there, it probably would have been an improvement!"

* * *

Jovie was standing outside behind the outhouse taping the camera from the door of the Confession Can to the tree behind it. "Okay, this is the new confessional," Jovie explained to the camera, leaning against the outer wall of the outhouse. "Nobody's gonna want to go in the Confession Can when it looks like a fur coat fashion show invaded by PETA…" She cleared her throat and said, "Anyway, I'm starting to think Courtney might be the murderer… Think about it! Like I said before, the one who keeps accusing someone else is almost always the murderer. She doesn't know that she could be the murderer, but Chris could easily know she'd be the most accusing… Well, Marilee is pretty accusing too… I haven't seen her since we left her all barfy and-"

"Jovie! Where are you?" Courtney faintly yelled far off-screen.

"Eep!" Jovie squeaked, quickly shutting off the camera.

* * *

"I'm here!" Jovie said as she ran up to Courtney. "And I found another murder scene!" She walked with Courtney over to the Confession Can so she could see for herself, then pulled the note out of her pocket to show it to her. "It was Trent this time."

"Hmm…" Courtney stroked her chin, nodding as she scanned over the note. "Marilee. It was definitely Marilee. She hates Trent because of that thing with their parents."

"She just said she wasn't fond of Trent," Jovie told her. "You couldn't really hear when she talked about it this morning. You were too busy killing twigs."

"Twigs are already **dead**," Courtney deadpanned as she tossed the note back inside the Confession Can.

Jovie nodded sadly. "I know that, but it's sort of like when you run over road kill. It's already dead, but you still feel sorry for it…"

"Okay, we've got solid evidence now," Courtney said, changing the subject. "We'll find Chris, tell him that Marilee's obviously the killer and then we'll be the winners!"

"I thought Chris said there were going to be clues besides the notes," Jovie said quietly, more to herself than Courtney. "Didn't he say that?"

"Probably not. Chris is too lazy to think through this that much." Courtney looked back at Jovie, then said, "Let's go."

"Okay… I need to use the Confessional… Behind the Can first," Jovie weakly said. As she ran behind the outhouse, she cried, "Go on without me!"

Courtney raised an eyebrow, suspicion clear in her expression, but she turned on her heel and ran off to find their beloved host.

* * *

"I… I really think Chris made Courtney the murderer." Jovie looked around nervously, as if she thought Courtney would pop up and yell at her. "Duncan and Gwen were both murdered, and she's angry at them… Candace could have possibly been murdered to keep her from bringing us down with her relationship with Geoff… Um… Maybe Chris had her murder Trent to throw us off? Maybe because he's dating Gwen? Or maybe because he's friends with Selena? She doesn't like Gwen _or_ Selena… Then again, why didn't she just kill Selena?"

"Jovie!" Courtney yelled from far, far off-screen. "I just found another murder! I think it was Selena!"

"… Yeah, it was Courtney," Jovie said with a nod.

* * *

*T*S*R*

DJ, with Zoey perched on his large shoulder, was walking by the cabins and pouring his heart out to Zoey. "A-And sometimes I feel things went too fast with me and Heather, y'know?" He sniffled and added, "I feel weird saying we're going out when we got together and she left like five seconds later and-"

"DJ?" Zoey quietly interrupted. "I like you and all, but I'm FOUR. Talkin' about mushy stuff like love bores me after a few seconds."

"Oh… Sorry."

"That's okay. It's not your fault I have a short attention span and am easily distracted!" DJ raised an eyebrow confusedly, so she added, "That's what Xavier said about me."

"Oh." DJ nodded, still looking a bit confused.

"Xavie's so smart," Zoey said with a dreamy sigh. "One day, we're gonna get married and live in a bouncy house and he's gonna be the President of Pluto and we'll have two kids named Reginald and Brianna and-"

"Wait, why's it okay when _you_ talk about love?" DJ asked, a little miffed.

Zoey giggled and lightly smacked his shoulder. "Because, you didn't talk about bouncy houses, silly!" She gasped upon seeing the blood covered, wide open door to the Ferret cabin. "DJ, look! More murder! Yay!"

"Okay, you're a bit _too_ enthusiastic about that," DJ said, looking at her with worry.

Zoey hopped of his shoulder once they were on the porch and she waved a nonchalant hand at his comment. "I live with Duncan. Blood and guts and stuff doesn't bother me much."

"Really?" DJ asked.

"It does if it's real," Zoey said. "'Cause the real stuff's just icky." She picked up the note. She looked at, then gasped. "Oh no!"

"What?" DJ asked, scared.

"I dunno," Zoey said with a shrug, handing the note to him. "I can't read."

DJ took the note, read it over, then nodded. "Looks like it was Selena."

"This means I'm an only child," Zoey quietly said, tapping her chin and looking upward in thought. "That means I'll get…" She started counting on her fingers, then held all of her fingers up. "twelve times as many presents this Christmas!"

"… You realize they'll be back by tonight, right?" DJ asked.

"Can't you just let me dream!" Zoey cried, tears building up in her dark green eyes. She ran off sobbing, and DJ ran after her, afraid she would be next.

* * *

"Uh…" DJ walked toward the camera behind the outhouse. "I guess this is out here now because Trent's fake blood is all over the Confession Can…" He cleared his throat and stood by the back wall. "Anyway…" He regained his panicked expression and exclaimed, "I couldn't just let her go off by herself! The girl who runs off crying always gets murdered! _Always_!"

* * *

*T*S*R*

Almost everyone who had been 'murdered' were all stuffed into the same small room Duncan found himself in when he regained consciousness. Holly and Tamyra were with them and Holly was fiddling around with the flashlight and looking at several books sitting by her feet. "Um… Anybody want to read my copy of _Twilight_?"

"No thanks," Candace said, looking around nervously, even though she could hardly see.

"_New Moon_?"

"I'm good," Selena said, sniffling slightly.

" _Eclipse_?"

"No," Gwen flatly said.

"… _Break_-"

"We don't want to read your stupid, sparkling vampire books!" Duncan yelled, throwing his arms in the air.

Holly gasped in horror, clutching her books tightly to her chest. "He doesn't mean it," she whispered to them, stroking the copy of _Eclipse_.

A door opened and Trent, the latest murder victim, was thrown to the ground harshly.

"Trent!" Gwen exclaimed, crawling toward him to help him sit up.

"Thanks, Chef!" Tamyra called out to the mystery man, no longer so mysterious, who had thrown Trent in there.

"I'm so glad Chef volunteered to get the dead people," Holly told Tamyra, gently setting her books down. "I don't think I could have done that again."

"Done what, hit someone over the head with a monkey wrench?" Duncan grumbled as he rubbed the bump on his head.

"Hey, Chris wanted us to use a mallet, but we talked him out of it!" Tamyra said, standing up for herself and her fellow intern.

Gwen propped Trent up against a crate, trying not to get the sticky red goop all over him on her hands. "Man, at least Chef was decent enough to wait until he picked me up _before _he got blood all over the place."

"I saved a few napkins from when Trent and I went into the kitchen," Selena said, pulling a few paper napkins out from her skirt pocket and handing them to Gwen.

"Thanks." The Goth took them and began to gently wipe Trent's bloody face off.

Trent tried to take the napkins for himself. "Gwen, you don't have to do that. I can clean myself up."

"I don't mind," Gwen gently said, taking his hand and wiping it off. "It's the least I can do… I haven't been the best girlfriend lately," she quietly said.

"Why do you think that?" Trent asked, honestly confused. He looked over at a certain punk, who was too busy carving something into the wooden floor to focus on their conversation. "Because you and Duncan are friends?" He laughed and said, "Gwen, come on. Did you think I'd freak out and go all crazy over it like some sort of freak?"

Gwen's eyes shot a nervous glance to the side and she bit her blue bottom lip. She turned back to him, sheepishly grinned, then pinched her fingers a few centimeters apart as if to say 'Just a little!'

Trent sighed. "Okay, I guess I can be a bit… weird sometimes. But I trust you. Why wouldn't I?"

Gwen smiled a Candace-like smile, looking almost hilariously out of character. "Wow… I… I really am lucky to have a guy like you."

"Speaking of guys who are lucky enough to have someone amazing to care about… I pocketed my cell phone before Chef killed me and Selena. She and Zack need to have a talk…" He sat up straighter and craned his neck to look past Gwen. Selena was nowhere to be seen. "Selena?" He looked back at Gwen, confused. "Wasn't she just here?"

"Yeah, but where-" Gwen accidentally kicked a upside-down bucket by her feet, and the bucket let out a high-pitched yelp. "Uh… Did that bucket just scream like a thirteen year old girl?" She didn't bother to wait for an answer from him and lifted the bucket up slightly, seeing a pair of teal eyes staring back at her.

"How'd you manage to squeeze yourself into that thing?" Gwen asked incredulously. "I know you're tiny, but… Wow." She shook her head. "Never mind. Stop hiding and call Zack."

"I don't wanna!" Selena said, the bucket making her voice echo. "I'm scared! What if the real Zack's as mad at me as the one in my head?"

"Selena, how did this breakup go in your head?" Gwen asked, pulling the bucket off of her completely. The blonde was stuck in a bucket shape for a moment, but quickly regained her regular form. "No offence, but your head can sort of… warp things sometimes."

Selena stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth and tapped her chin. "Well, Zack was about six feet tall, he had big muscles and great abs and- Oh, he had a mustache, too!"

"… My brother, the kid who's barely gotten past the first chapter of puberty, had a ripped body and a _mustache_."

Selena nodded. "Mmhmm. But not a big, bushy one. It was a little, pencil one. Like the ones those sophisticated French guys have. A big, bushy one would just be silly."

"… Right." Gwen sighed. "Selena, I know we didn't get off to the greatest start, but my brother obviously likes you. And _I'm_ even growing to like you…" She looked to the side, seriously contemplating something. "Though I sure don't know why…"

Selena sniffed, picking up her bucket and hugging it. "Really? I... I don't really think Zack will be that mad, but… I'm still scared."

"And you're going to keep being scared and miserable if you don't talk to him about it like a man… Well, a woman… Okay, a teenage girl. A really tough one." Trent took the phone out of his pocket and handed it to Gwen, who held it out towards Selena and added, "Trust me. It's better to face these problems before they actually _become_ problems…"

Selena looked at the phone like it was going to bite her, but gently sat her bucket down after a while and slowly grabbed the phone. She shakily started dialing, then picked the bucket up, scrunched up, and slid back under it.

Trent snaked an arm around Gwen's waist and slid her closer to him. "That was really nice of you, babe."

After they shared a small kiss, Gwen shrugged, trying to hide her smile. "Hey, I can be nice… Sometimes."

They both heard an echoing "Hello?" coming from the bucket and exchanged looks with one another. "Don't look at me," Trent said with a shrug. "I don't know how she does it, either."

Gwen nodded and muttered, "She should consider being a contortionist when she grows up."

*T*S*R*

"We saw that Duncan, Gwen, Candace and Trent were all murdered," Marilee listed, going over all the bloody scenes she and Geoff had stumbled upon. "But Selena. Selena is the one who takes the cake…"

"Courtney _does_ hate Selena… Or does Selena hate Courtney?" Geoff questioned, scratching his head.

"Both, duh," Marilee said. "I think Selena hates Courtney more than Courtney hates Selena, but there's some major hate-on going on there."

DJ ran up to the both of them and frantically asked, "Did you guys see Zoey?"

"You lost her AGAIN?" Marilee huffed, putting her hands on her hips.

"She ran off! I tried to stop her!" DJ argued, looking on the brink of tears. "She was all excited because she thought she'd get more stuff from her folks now that Duncan and Selena were dead and I told her that they'd be back and she got upset 'cause she wanted presents and she started crying and ran off and-"

"I do not need your life story, DJ," Marilee protested, holding a hand up to quiet him. "Go find her and leave the grown ups to their work." DJ let out a squeaky whine and ran off while Marilee turned to Geoff and said, "Back to business. Courtney's done it and that's that."

"I dunno…" Geoff rubbed the back of his neck. "I just sort of… have this strange feeling that you might be wrong and-" Marilee flicked his nose, making him whine in pain, rub it and stop mid-sentence. "What was that for?"

"For thinking that I'm wrong. I'm never wrong!"

"… You are _sometimes_," Geoff quietly said with a pout.

Marilee slapped a hand over his mouth and shushed him. "I don't want anyone to find out about that!"

Geoff shoved her hand away and said, "I'm just saying, I found some stuff at some of the murder sights and-"

"Oh no," Marilee groaned as she threw her head back and shut her eyes. "You ate something off the ground again, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah, but I'm pretty sure it was food this time. Anyway, maybe you should look at this stuff before-"

"Wait, I think I see Chris!" Marilee yelled, interrupting him and pointing at the mess hall. "Let's go!"

*T*S*R*

DJ saw that Zoey ran off into the woods, which was not good at all. "Man, this is the perfect murder sight!" He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled out, "Zoey? Come on out, girl! This is serious!"

He heard rustling in the bushes he just walked by, so he slowly peered into them. Before he even had the chance to scream, he was dragged into one of the bushes and fake blood flew out and splattered onto the foliage.

*T*S*R*

As Courtney and Jovie ran towards one of the production tents, they bumped into Marilee and Geoff, who were going to do the same thing the two girls were.

"Murderer!" Courtney and Marilee cried, pointing at each other accusingly. "What?" they both screamed, looking at each other in disbelief. "I didn't do it, YOU DID!" Their simultaneous yelling ended and they started screaming different things, mostly about how the other was so going to lose. It ended with them wailing flat-out nonsense and stomping off toward their lone teammates, who were just watching with confusion before.

As Marilee and Courtney huffed and puffed from yelling so much, Jovie scratched the back of her head and said, "Um… Now that you two have that out of your systems… Um, let's go find Chris."

"We have to find him first," Marilee quietly said to Geoff. "We have to keep winning…"

"No, you don't!" Courtney cried, even though she seemed to be too far away to hear the blonde.

"Hmm." Marilee poked her lip out in thought. "Miss CIT's got good hearing…"

"She's got a need for victory, too!" Courtney loudly said. "And she will get that victory! … And she will stop talking in the third person!" She grabbed Jovie by the arm and drug her into the mess hall and Marilee ran after them. Geoff, however, saw something by the forest and ran toward the scene…

Chris was playing with his toy pipe by the serving area, chatting with Chef, who was still dressed in black, but had taken his ski mask off. "So… I was thinking about getting a movie off Netflix later," Chris awkwardly said, rubbing his arm and not making eye contact with Chef. "Maybe a romantic comedy… You wanna-"

"Dang it, I told you I ain't gay!" Chef barked.

"I didn't mean it like that! Sheesh!" Chris whined, crossing his arms. "It wouldn't kill you to be friendly for once!"

Chef was about to make a remark, but Courtney, Jovie, and Marilee ran in before he could.

"Chris, Chris, I know who the murderer is!" Courtney exclaimed. "It was Marilee! She had a motive for killing every single person who had been murdered so far!"

"Why would I kill Selena?" Marilee skeptically asked. "She's one of my best friends!"

"Murderers have no friends!"

"Then I know who it _really_ is!" Marilee exclaimed after Courtney did. "It was friendless Courtney!"

"What? I have tons of friends!"

"Name four!"

"… YOU name four."

"… I asked you first!"

"Sorry, Courtney," Chris said, tossing his pipe aside. "Marilee is not the murderer."

"Haha," Marilee quietly laughed, looking smug. Jovie's eyes widened, her hunch about Courtney's guilt getting greater. "So, now that we've established that Courtney did it, I'll take-"

"Whoa, hold on, Little Miss Jumps-To-Conclusions," Chris said, putting a hand over her mouth. She glared at him but he still held it firm over her mouth. "It was not Courtney either." Jovie breathed a sigh of relief and Marilee bit Chris' palm. "Ow!" He held the hand she had taken a bite of and pouted. "Now I have to get a rabies shot…"

"This was the stupidest challenge yet!" Courtney yelled. "It made absolutely no sense! Marilee had the most motive… And I have to admit, so did I. How could it not be one of us?"

"Yeah, who else is left?" Marilee asked. "Jovie's main goal in life is to _help_ people, DJ cries when _butterflies_ die, Grace and Zoey are kids, and Geoff's too stupid to know how to pull off any type of murder. Wh-"

Just then, Geoff kicked the door open and yelled, "I know who the murderer is!"

Everybody stared at him for a moment, then Marilee quietly said, "This oughta be good…"

"Lemme guess," Courtney began, not looking ready to be impressed. "It was Professor Plum in the conservatory with a bacon sandwich."

Geoff scoffed, still smiling. "That's just stupid. There's no conservatory on this island!"

"Who do you think it was?" Jovie asked. "I hope it wasn't me. Several brutal murders wouldn't look good on my résumé for Greenpeace…"

"No, it wasn't you," Geoff said. "I just needed one more murder to take place to guarantee who did it."

"One more?" Jovie asked. "Who else was murdered?"

"DJ, just recently." Geoff sniffed and wiped his eye. "Poor guy. He had so much to live for…" He shrugged it off. "Oh well. He'll be back by tonight."

"Just tell me who it is!" Chris exclaimed. "I'm bored! If I don't hear your guess in ten seconds, I'm gonna go back to my place, get Leap Year off Netflix and watch it… all by myself." He looked hopefully back at Chef, who was still behind the counter. The cook growled at him and he coughed and looked back at the teens. "Okay, Geoff, answer now. You've got ten seconds."

"The murderer, my friends, was-"

"Hi, guys," Zoey said, walking into the mess hall, still sniffling a bit. "Any of you see DJ ar-"

"SHE was the murderer!" Geoff screamed, dramatically pointing an accusing finger at Zoey.

"What?" the four girls said all at once, looking at Geoff incredulously.

"… What?" Geoff asked. "It's not that hard to believe. I'm just surprised one of you didn't come up with it before _me_!"

Marilee stared at him for a moment, then shut her eyes and rubbed her forehead. "This should be interesting to hear. Tell us how you came to this hypothesis, Geoffrey."

"It's simple," Geoff began, pacing in front of the group. "Zoey could easily be considered the least likely to do something like this, right?"

"… Meh, I'd say it'd be Candace," Jovie said with a shrug. "Zoey does have Duncan's influence, after all."

"It's true," Zoey said with a nod, looking a little too proud.

"But think about it. She had motives for killing each and every person that has been murdered! Duncan and Trent for example. They were the ones who made her give up that wolf dog thingy!"

"What are you talking about?" Courtney asked, confused. "What 'wolf dog thingy?'"

"… Oh yeah. You two weren't there for that. Zoey and Grace stole Chris' rental wolf, named it Fluffernutter, lied about it and let it loose, it stole my check, chaos ensued, blah blah blah. Point is, Trent and Duncan weren't happy campers… And neither was Zoey after they forced the girls to give Fluffernutter up…"

* * *

"_Mwahahaha!" a black-and-white Duncan cackled, twirling the tip of his handlebar mustache between his pointer finger and thumb. Black-and-white Trent was doing the same and they both were dressed like the dastardly kind of guys who would tie damsels to railroad tracks for kicks. "We're getting rid of your beloved Fluffernutter because we're mean and we hate you two!"_

_A black-and-white Grace, dressed up like a Southern belle, fell to her knees and clasped her hands together. "Please, don't take our beloved pup!" she begged with a deep Southern accent. "Y'all don't know how much we loves that lil' critter!"_

_Zoey, wearing basically the same thing as Grace, pleaded as well, "We'll do whatever y'all want! We'll milk the cows or bake y'all some pie or… Or whatever it is Southern belles do!"_

"_No!" Trent shouted, still twirling his swirly thin mustache as he glared down at the two. He pulled some rope out from behind his back and exclaimed, "It's off to the railroad tracks with you two!"_

* * *

"… Okay, I know that rock Duncan threw at you must have been messing with your head, but I think even _you _know that's not how it happened," Marilee told him, looking a bit disturbed.

"Nah, that sounds about right," Zoey said, nodding.

"Okay… Everybody else, then?" Jovie asked. "What about Candace? And DJ? She likes them! _Everybody _does!"

"I believe I have the answers you're looking for," Geoff said, a sly grin appearing on his lips. "There are a few things that happened a few days ago that you might want to know…"

* * *

_Zoey and Grace were sitting on the dock, talking about whatever it is little girls talk about while sitting on docks. Candace, who had just gone swimming, climbed onto the dock, grabbed her towel and dried off. After slipping her flip flops on, she waved at the girls and started to walk off, but accidentally stepped on the tip of Zoey's pointer finger._

"_Oh no!" Candace exclaimed, looking extremely concerned as Zoey held her finger and squeaked in pain. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"_

_Zoey sucked on her finger to make the stinging go away, but she took it out of her mouth for a moment so she could weakly smile at her. "It's okay," she calmly said. "It was an accident. It only hurts a teeny bit. I'll be okay!"_

* * *

_Zoey was seated for lunch, DJ right next to her. He reached for the salt shaker in front of her, but accidentally knocked her glass of milk over in the process. Luckily, there was only a sip left, so it didn't make a big mess._

"_Oops," he muttered, taking his napkin to wipe up the small spill. "Sorry."_

"_That's okay," Zoey sweetly said._

* * *

"… Geoff, those are _terrible_ reasons to murder someone," Courtney said, dumbfounded by his stupidity. "She wasn't even angry! And they all apologized for what they did."

Geoff held up a hand and nodded in agreement. "But that's just the thing. It made her _furious_! She's just that good at hiding it!"

"You never did say why she killed Gwen," Jovie told him.

"Ah, I'm glad you brought that up, my dear Jovie!" Geoff exclaimed. "It's a long story, actually…"

* * *

_As Gwen walked by the Fighting Ferrets table at breakfast, Zoey sneezed._

* * *

"That was the shortest long story ever," Jovie said as she raised an eyebrow.

"What was so bad about that one?" Marilee asked.

"Gwen didn't say bless you!" Geoff said, like it was obvious, and crossed his eyes. "**Duh**."

"I wouldn't kill her for that!" Zoey sadly cried. "That's not fair!"

Geoff looked down at her suspiciously, then bent down to get at her eye-level more. "It's fair to say that Courtney is one of the people you look up to, though. Isn't that right?"

Zoey smiled and nodded. "Yeah! She's so pretty and smart and nice and she's the perfectest girl in the whole world!"

"Aww," Courtney quietly cooed, her anger and annoyance disappearing for a moment.

"And she and Gwen haven't really been getting along lately, right?" Geoff asked.

"Yeah, they haven't," Zoey said, tapping her chin for a moment as she thought. "I wish they would. I like it when all the peoples get along!"

"Yeah, she's so vicious and blood-thirsty," Marilee grumbled.

Geoff stood back up and continued, "Zoey would kill to make Courtney happy… And yeah, I mean that, like, literally. So that would give her the perfect motive to kill Gwen."

"What about Selena then?" Courtney asked. "Surprisingly, Selena's never done anything bad to Zoey."

"Ah, _that _was what gave me my doubts," Geoff told her, cocking a finger at her. "But before DJ's untimely demise, he gave me some interesting information about Zoey after finding out about Selena's murder. Zoey did not care about her sister's death. No! All she cared about were the piles and piles of presents she would get now that both her money-sucking siblings were out of their parents' hair! That was the motive for killing Selena: greed."

"I'm not greedy!" Zoey protested, crossing her arms. "I just like presents. And lots of them! What kid doesn't?"

Geoff ignored Zoey, then said, "But these theories are not the only thing that made me come to my conclusion."

"What, did you find a butcher knife in Zoey's Hello Kitty backpack?" Marilee sarcastically asked.

"No…" Geoff thought this over for a moment, then slapped his forehead. "Dang it! I should have looked through her stuff!"

"No!" Zoey cried. "I keep all my important stuff in my backpack! Like my daddy's spare car keys! And a baggie of grapes!" She looked down and muttered, "Well, they're _raisins_ now, but…"

"But what I found at Candace's murder sight is what first made me suspect it was Zoey…" From behind his back, Geoff pulled out a small pink hair bow.

"Hey, my bow!" Zoey exclaimed, excitedly jumping up to take the bow. She clipped it in its usual spot in her hair and added, "I was wonderin' where it went!"

"I thought it over at first, believe it or not-"

"Oh, we don't."

"Thanks, sis," Geoff said with a small pout. "Anyway, I thought maybe it was just a coincidence. Y'know, stuff gets dropped, it happens. But when we were by the Ferret cabins and Marilee was reading Selena's note, my eye caught something right by her blood puddle…" He held up several black hairs, then held them up to Zoey's hair. "It's a perfect match! It's too dark to be Jovie's and she's the only other girl left with hair dark enough!"

"Well…" Courtney looked doubtful, but also like she thought he might have some points. "Those could have been Selena's!"

"Selena's blonde," Geoff said, looking a bit confused.

"Yeah, _bottle_ blonde."

"… You think so?"

Marilee rolled her eyes. "No, Geoff! Her hair is _naturally_ platinum blonde with pink tips!"

"I knew the pink parts were fake, gosh!" Geoff whined, sounding an awful lot like Harold. "But you don't know for sure if she's got naturally black hair! Besides, these are too short!" He crossed his arms and stubbornly said, "This is my story and I'm sticking to it!"

Marilee sighed, resting a hand on her brother's shoulder. "Look, you've obviously worked hard on this, and your efforts at being smart are absolutely adorable and all, but-"

She was interrupted by super slow clapping and everyone turned to see that Chris, who had been silent and done nothing up until that point, was behind the clapping. "Geoff… That… I didn't honestly think anyone would get it… I mean, I just pulled Zoey's name out of a hat and threw random stuff of hers around, but…" Chris sounded honestly shocked. "Wow. You figured out whodunit!"

"YES!" Geoff cried, pumping a fist. "I'm smart!"

"Chris, that's absolutely ridiculous!" Courtney exclaimed. "You said this was supposed to be mystery, not a complete stab in the dark! There was absolutely no real logic behind it! You're not even trying anymore!"

"Am too," Chris grumbled, pouting. "Geoff figured it out! Maybe you girls are just all idiots!"

"You're serious? Th-That can't be! You mean… Geoff was right but I was… _wrong_?" Marilee asked, looking as if her world was crashing around her.

"Yep! Geoff's officially the smart one! Says a lot about _you_, doesn't it?" Chris said, mostly to freak Marilee out, and it worked.

"Omigoshomigosh," Marilee breathlessly said, looking like she was going to faint any second. "Cantbreathecantbreathecant-" She plopped onto one of the seats and clutched her chest, trying to regulate her breathing again.

"What are you so freaked out about?" Courtney bitterly snapped, glaring at the panicked girl. "You _won_! _We're_ the ones who are going to have to vote someone off!"

"But… Geoff was right… And I _wasn't_!" Her head fell on the table with a loud slam and it stayed there for a good, long time.

As Geoff started doing a victory dance, Zoey ran off to apologize to everyone for murdering them, Courtney fumed, Marilee groaned, and Jovie tried to comfort both girls at once. Chris stepped in front of this scene, grinning at the camera. "Well, there you have it! The Ferrets are our winners! Who from the Ravens team is leaving the island? Will Marilee ever accept that Geoff figured out the murderer instead of her?"

"NO!" Marilee yelled off-screen.

Chris shrugged, then looked back at the screen. "Find out who's getting the boot right after the break!"

* * *

Wow, it's been a while, huh? Well, I'm back, baby! Hopefully this is satisfactory. And don't worry, the loose ends will be tied up in the next chapter! Leave a review, if you would! :D


	46. Day 18, Part 3: Even More Mysteries

The dark room in which the murder victims were trapped in had gained a new member: DJ. That made the room only more crowded.

The dead members of the Fighting Ferrets- sans Selena, who was still under the bucket, trying to get in contact with Zack- were on one side of the room, talking about this and that, which left Gwen and Candace on the other side. Candace shiftily looked over at the guys, then at the bucket. She scooted closer to Gwen and whispered, "Gwen! You'll never guess what I found out about the other team!"

"Wait, you actually found something out?" Gwen asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, the Ferrets are up to something… Well, a good five out of eight of them _will _be!" Candace hissed. "Marilee said-"

A door was kicked open and Chris shone a flashlight in on their shady faces. "Hey there, dead beats!"

"Boooooo!" Tamyra jeered, shaking her head at Chris' extremely lame joke.

Chris ignored her and continued, "Wanna see the sweet, innocent face of your murderer?" Zoey poked her head in and waved at everyone.

"Hi!" she chirped. "Sorry I killed you guys and stuff!"

"I knew you had it in you, kid," Duncan said as he stood up, pride clear in his voice.

Gwen gave the host a strange look. "Okay, I give up. Tell me how you possibly managed to make the sweetest little girl in the world the murderer."

"Why don't you ask Geoff?" Chris suggested, shining the flashlight in Gwen's face, which made her shield her eyes and attempt to glare at him. "He solved the mystery, after all."

"He did?" Candace squealed and clapped with joy. "Yay! My Geoffy-Pop's smart!" When she saw the dark glare Gwen was giving her, she mellowed down and mumbled, "Uh, I mean boo. Yeah. We lost… That sucks."

"Yeah, it does," Gwen grumbled, still glaring at her. "And Geoffy-Pop? Seriously?"

"… Yeah," Candace awkwardly said, rubbing the back of her neck. "Y'see, it's cute because it sounds like _Jiffy-Pop _and-"

"Yeah, thanks, I got that part," Gwen said, rubbing her forehead and giving up.

*T*S*R*

"Geoff's smarter than you."

"Shut up."

"Geoff's smarter than you."

"Shut UP."

"Geoff's sma-"

"SHUT UP!" Marilee screamed at Duncan, standing up from her rock in the cave, which was temporarily a meeting place for the five contestants. "We didn't come here to talk about Geoff's dumb luck during the challenge!"

"Then would you mind explaining what you _did_ make us come here for?" Duncan asked, referring to himself, Selena and Zoey, who were seated to his right and left.

Marilee sat back down, pointing to Geoff, who was at her left. "Geoff and I were talking earlier about how we're two of the strongest families left on the island."

"And?"

"Will you let me finish, Caliver?" Marilee snapped.

"I didn't say anything!" Selena said, pouting.

"I meant _that _Caliver," Marilee said, pointing to Duncan.

"Oh."

"Now, before I was so rudely interrupted…" She took a second to glare at Duncan and continued, "I was going to say that I thought it would be a good idea to combine forces."

"Like an alliance?" Selena asked. Marilee nodded. "That's not a bad idea," she mused, tapping her chin and looking upwards. "But why'd we have to meet in a smelly cave?"

"Because, this has to be secret. Secret alliances don't work if they're not… secret."

"What's in it for us?" Duncan asked, crossing his arms and looking at Marilee suspiciously.

"I don't keep trying to vote you off," Marilee said, pretty much mimicking Duncan's actions. "And it'll keep you from having to deal with Courtney and Gwen."

"They still at each others' throats?" Marilee nodded and Duncan groaned.

"It's not like you win any popularity contests here, Caliver. You need all the help you can get and…" Marilee groaned, slapping herself on the inside for what she was about to say and admitted, "so do I."

"So, what do you say, dude and dudettes?" Geoff asked, sticking his hand in the middle of their circle. "Anderson-Caliver Alliance?"

Marilee placed her hand on top of Geoff's, then looked up at Selena. She placed her hand over Marilee's and Zoey, after sneaking a quick glance at Duncan's blank expression, put her hand on Selena's.

Duncan, who wasn't showing much emotion, looked like he could go either way. After contemplating everything that could go wrong, he figured there were more pros than cons and placed his hand on top of everybody else's.

*T*S*R*

The sun had just set, which meant it was time for the campfire ceremony. The four remaining Ravens were getting seated in the front row, while everybody from the Fighting Ferrets were in the in the last row, except for Grace and Zoey, who had turned in early… Well, one of them did.

"What are you doing?" Mia asked as she peered into the bush several feet away from Chris' oil drum.

"Shh!" Grace hissed, poking her head out of the bush. "Remember the plan we came up with?"

"Yeah, of course I do," Mia snapped. "Why does that involve you hiding in a bush, though?"

"I wanna see it happen!"

"And you couldn't just join the others?" Mia asked.

"This is more fun!" Grace sunk back into the bush and Mia simply rolled her eyes and walked away.

Gwen looked back at Duncan, as if noticing him and his team for the first time. "Uh, why are you guys here? The other team usually doesn't stay for the losing team's ceremony."

"Don't tell me what to do, Pasty," Duncan said, smirking.

Gwen scoffed, but still grinned a bit. "Oh, right. You have _Courtney_ to do that for you." As she said that, Courtney walked by. She harrumphed at Gwen's comment, but said nothing as she headed toward an empty stump next to Candace.

Candace looked up from her lap, gasping once she saw Courtney. She knew she had to tell her about Marilee's alliance idea, but she hadn't seen the former CIT since she found out. "Courtneeeeeeey!" Candace hissed with her hands cupped around her mouth as Courtney sat down next to her. "Coooooooourtney! Cooooour-"

"I'm right here! What do you want?" Courtney asked, clearly irritated.

"I found out something!" Candace quietly exclaimed. "Something about-"

"Campers," Chris interrupted, making Candace slump back in her seat. "One of the Raving Ravens is about to leave the island for good." He held up the platter of marshmallows in his hand and said, "When I call your name, be ready to catch your marshmallow… Jovie."

"Yes!" Jovie cheered, catching her marshmallow and happily eating it."

"Now… Let's see who the final two marshmallows go to…" Chris reached toward the platter for one of the last marshmallows, but saw something under them. "Huh? What's this junk?"

"Um, Chris?" Courtney asked, sounding irritated. "You were kind of in the middle of something. Something _important_."

"Yeah, that's great, shut up," Chris dismissively told her, setting the tray down on his oil drum podium. He pulled the item out slowly from underneath the marshmallows. It appeared to be a folded note. The host unfolded it and read it quietly to himself. After reading a certain part of the message, his eyes widened and he quietly muttered, "No… That can't be right… Can it?"

"Chris?" Jovie asked, looking worried. "What's tha-"

"Will you people quit talking while I'm trying to read stuff?" Chris screamed, not taking his eyes off the note as he continued to read.

"At least tell us what the stupid note says," Duncan said, still looking like he could care less. "I'm getting ready to fall asleep here. Maybe that'll make me care more. I'm doubting it will, though." Courtney couldn't help but look hurt for a moment at her boyfriend's lack of concern for her immunity, but quickly went back to glaring at Chris.

Chris continued to stand there and read the letter, his face getting redder with each sentence and his eyebrows furrowing more and more in anger.

Gwen was getting tired of his dismissive attitude towards all of their questions, so she stood up and walked over to where he was standing. "If you won't tell us, I'll just read it myself." She was about to take the letter from Chris, but he crumpled it up in his hand and started storming towards the rest of the Ravens, shoving Gwen harshly to the ground while doing so.

"Gwen!" both Trent and Duncan cried at the same time. Trent went to help Gwen up and Duncan looked like he was going to do the same, but when he saw the blood-curdling glare Courtney shot him, he coughed into his fist and regained his bored demeanor.

After Trent helped Gwen to her feet, he glared at Chris' back. "Chris, dude, what's your problem?"

Chris grabbed a certain member of the losing team by her wrist and yanked her out of her seat. He dragged her over to Trent and Gwen and practically shoved the girl in their faces. "THIS GIRL is my problem!"

"… What do you have against _Candace_?" Gwen asked. "It can't be as bad as you're making it out to be."

"Oh, it's bad, all right," Chris said, letting Candace's wrist go. "If you call cheating and scandals _bad, _which I think you would…"

Candace started rubbing her sore wrist as she looked up at Chris nervously, since she had no idea what she had done. "I would never cheat!"

She looked scared, so Geoff placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "Dude, we all know Candy. She doesn't have it in her to do any scallops!"

"Scandals," Marilee corrected with a flat tone.

"Saaaame thiiiing," Geoff whined at her.

"You all should be angrier," Chris exclaimed, glaring at the contestants. "She's been trying to cheat you all! You want to know how?"

"_I _sure do," Candace quietly said.

"You just **shut up**!" Chris snapped, making her shrink back and hug Geoff for support. "Well, I'll tell you how she's been cheating." Chris threw the paper that had been curled up in his fist at Candace, who began to smooth it out.

"Hmm…" Her dark brown eyes slowly started scanning the typed-out message.

As she began to read the letter, Chris looked back at the crowd and slowly said, "She's been pretending to be something she's not. Owen's sister." He nodded and pointed at the redhead, who was still reading the note and looking very confused. "That's right! Candace. Is. ADOPTED."

He looked at everyone expectantly, like he thought they were going to gasp and faint and make a fuss. Instead, they exchanged confused glances and Courtney asked, "_And_?"

"And _what_?" Chris snapped.

"_That's_ what you're so mad about?" DJ asked. "Are you sure you're not forgetting to mention something she did that's actually… bad? Arson?… Murder?… Jaywalking?"

"Why are none of you surprised?" Chris incredulously asked. "_I _sure didn't know about this!"

"I never really told anyone on the island," Candace admitted. "It's never come up in conversation… until now."

"It's not like it's that much of a shocker," Gwen told Chris. "She looks absolutely _nothing _like Owen, she's the only one in her family with type one diabetes, which is mostly a genetic condition, and unlike her brother and parents, she's not-" She stopped herself from saying what she wanted to say and Candace was quick to notice it.

Candace gave her a small smile. "You can say it. It's not like they don't already know that they're-"

"- morbidly overweight."

"I thought you were going to say _short_!" Candace gasped, looking offended. Gwen shrunk back guiltily. "That's my family you're talking about, Gwen!"

"No, they're not!" Chris snapped. "That's the whole point!"

"It's about time you made one," Courtney muttered.

Chris ignored Courtney and continued, "The name of the game is Total _Sibling_ Rivalry, people! Not Total _Orphan _Rivalry!"

He got a few shocked gasps from that comment and Geoff hugged a sad Candace even tighter while glaring at the furious host. "Not cool, dude. **Not** cool!"

"If you all will take a look at your TSR contracts, somewhere around page three…" Chris pulled out a stack of papers and flipped past a few pages. His finger scanned the page until he found the statement he was looking for. "They use a bunch of lawyer hoo-ha to describe it, but in layman's terms, it says all new competitors in the game must be _blood_ siblings with a past competitor. Does Little Orphan Annie here fit into that category?" He looked Candace up and down, like he was looking at a dead animal. "No. That means she is hereby _disqualified_."

"You are being absolutely ridiculous!" Jovie exclaimed, shooting up from her seat. "You can't discriminate against her for being adopted just as much as you can't discriminate against me, my sisters, or DJ for being black!"

"You aren't _born_ without parents! It's impossible!" Chris shouted, glaring at Jovie. "Being an orphan is a lifestyle choice and it is one I do not approve of!"

"Are you being serious?" Marilee asked, throwing her hands up in the air. "I think this idiot is actually serious!"

"Candace is legally a member of Owen's family," Courtney said, trying to snatch Chris' contract away from him. He managed to keep it away from her, though. "There's no way you're allowed to tell her she can't compete just because she isn't related to Owen by blood!"

"Well, I am!" Chris tossed the contract into the fire, then snapped. "Chef, take the interloper out of here."

"I don't want to," Chef barked, crossing his arms. "This is low, even for _you_, pretty boy!"

"If this was such an issue for you, why did you even let me in this competition?" Candace asked. She had finally stopped trying to look like the names he was calling her didn't hurt her, but she managed to still keep herself from crying.

"Um, I didn't _know_," Chris said, like it was obvious. "Your files are all so boring and long, like I'm actually going to read them all! I should have known you were an orphan all along! You have no brains and you're always begging for that stupid insulin. It's pathetic how you rely on that stuff just to get through the day! It amazes me that you haven't killed yourself yet!"

"CHRIS!" Courtney screamed, looking ready to rip his head off.

"What the hell is your problem?" Geoff yelled, looking just as furious, even for him.

"Do you seriously think you can get away with saying that?" Gwen asked, and she was about to step forward to add more to that, but Candace separated from Geoff and stopped her.

"Guys… I appreciate you trying to help, but… I can handle this." She turned to the host, glaring at him with misty eyes. "You know, Chris… I was born with diabetes, and I had no say in being put up for adoption, but I control how I look towards things. Some people thinks diabetes makes you weaker, but for me… It's made me stronger, as a person."

Chris scoffed at this, but Candace kept going. "Some kids who have been adopted want to meet their birth parents more than anything." She paused for a moment before adding, "I don't. They gave me up, so I gave up on them. As far as I'm concerned, Edwin and Lisa Coleman _are_ my real parents and Owen is my real brother and nothing you or anybody else says can make me think otherwise." Her breathing was shaky at this point, but she refused to cry. She crossed her arms and asked, "So… Am I still disqualified for something that's beyond my control and only matters to _you_?"

Chris looked at her for a moment, then pointed toward the Boat of Losers and hissed, "Get off of my island."

Candace nodded, still looking strong. "Fine. I don't want to be on any show _you're_ hosting, anyway." She looked back at the group, especially Geoff, who looked absolutely heartbroken. She gave them all a sad smile and said, "It's been fun, guys. I'll miss you all, but I'll see some of you at Playa de Los-"

"No, you won't!" Chris rudely interrupted. "You weren't even allowed to be in the competition in the first place! You think you can pull the wool over Chris McLean's eyes and then have a free freaking vacation on top of that?"

"Where's she supposed to go then?" Jovie asked, looking concerned.

"Home!" Chris yelled, shoving Candace towards the direction of the dock.

"So, what, that's it?" Marilee asked, incredulous. "You think you can slack off, then kick someone off for a reason that can't possibly be legal? You seriously think-"

"Why are you just standing there?" Chris yelled in Candace's face, completely ignoring Marilee. "Are you too much of an imbecile to follow the simplest of orders? GET ON THE BOAT, YOU LITTLE SLU-"

Candace, who had had all she could take of the host's attitude, spat on Chris' face, and most of the spit ended up going into his screaming mouth. This only made him scream more, but this time in disgust. He ran towards the washrooms to gargle Candace's germs out of his beautiful mouth, which left the campers to give the cheerleader a standing ovation.

"Way to do what I've been wanting to do for two seasons," Gwen said, giving her a hug for her disgusting, yet amazing act.

"Thanks, Gwen," Candace said, hugging her back. "You've been a good friend. The best Goth friend I've ever had. Well, you're the _only_ Goth friend I've ever had, but still-"

"I'll miss you, too," Gwen quietly interrupted.

They separated from their hug, but Candace was quickly engulfed by Jovie. "Girl, this ain't right," Jovie said. "I'd start a petition to get you back on the show, but," she looked around and continued, "I'd need more signatures and since we can't leave the island…"

Candace smiled a sad smile. "You're the sweetest, Jovie."

Jovie let her go, and that left Candace with one more teammate to say goodbye to. She walked over to Courtney, and she was a tad surprised to find her on her cell phone. How could she chat with someone after all that happened. "Courtney?"

"Hold on a second, Michael," Courtney said into the phone. She pulled it away from her ear, then looked at Candace, looking absolutely furious. "Chris cannot do this! I've got my lawyer on the line right now, and I'm going to make him look through every line in that contract! There's no way Chris can really say such things to you, or kick you-"

Candace gently took Courtney's cell phone from her, clicked the 'End' button, and handed it back to her. "Before you get tangled up in that…" Candace spread out her arms and quietly said, "Just give me a hug."

Courtney put her phone in her pocket, then looked at Candace. For the first time since Chris' outburst, instead of being livid, she just looked sad for her friend. She gave her a hug, then quietly said, "It's going to be weird, being team captain without you by my side… You're a wonderful person, Candace. You deserve this the least of anyone, even me."

Candace let out a small laugh at that, then whispered, "That means so much, Courtney. Thank you… And don't worry about Duncan and Gwen." She pulled away and gave her a wink. "Things will work out for the best."

As Candace walked away, Courtney looked back at Gwen. She was quietly talked to Trent, who had his arm wrapped comfortably around her. Then Courtney looked at Duncan. He was consoling poor Geoff, but, being the tough guy that he was, that just meant giving him two pats on the back, nodding and walking off. They weren't showing any signs right then that the two were madly in love… Maybe Candace was possibly maybe kind of right… Maybe.

Geoff, who hadn't really been all that comforted by Duncan's comforting, was the last person Candace needed to say goodbye to. "Geoff," Candace began, looking unsure of what to say. "I'm… I'm going to miss you most of all."

Geoff looked at her for a moment, then pulled her close to him and hugged her tightly. "I'd take your place on that boat if I could," he somberly said.

Candace had remained strong through everything, but that simple statement was what finally made a small tear trickle down her cheek. "You're the sweetest boy I've ever met, Geoff…" She gave him a chaste kiss, then made her way toward the Dock of Shame, where Chef was waiting for her on the Boat of Losers.

Once she got on and the boat pulled away from the dock, the contestants walked up to the shore to wave goodbye to her. As soon as their backs were turned, Grace ran out of the bush and towards her cabin.

Candace waved at her friends with as much energy as she could, though the evening sure had taken a toll on her. The boat was soon out of sight and the waving ended soon after that. One by one, the campers made their way back to their respective cabins, Geoff being the last one to leave the dock.

It was not the smoothest elimination ceremony, to say the least, but it sure was the most unfair. If anything, everybody hoped that Chris would get his just desserts…

*T*S*R*

"Chris can't do this," Selena bluntly said, walking into the washrooms. The only person in there was Courtney, brushing her teeth, already dressed in her pajamas.

She spat into the sink and, seeing that Selena had temporarily forgotten that the two girls hated each other, decided a five-minute truce wouldn't hurt anything. "Tell me about it." She rinsed her toothbrush off and tucked it back into her cosmetics bag. "When my selfish lawyer gets back from visiting his wife in the hospital, I'm calling him and filing a lawsuit against Chris for Candace! If she isn't back on the show in two weeks…" She couldn't even finish her sentence. She was too busy punching and strangling the air in front of her, pretending Chris was there.

* * *

"Why don't I like her again?" Selena asked, scratching her head.

* * *

Selena started brushing her teeth, still seething over her friend's injustice, while Courtney brushed her hair. After a few minutes of silence, Selena spat out her toothpaste and awkwardly asked, "Um, out of curiosity, what happened to your lawyer's wife?"

After finishing her hundredth brush stroke, Courtney rolled her eyes and said, "She's such a crybaby. She could have snapped her broken rib back in place herself!" She went back to brushing her hair and Selena gave her a strange look before slowly walking away.

* * *

"Oh yeah," Selena said, crossing her arms and not looking impressed with Courtney. "_That's _why."

* * *

"So, the Ravens are weaker than ever and everyone hates Chris more than ever…" Grace smirked, crossing her arms. "Wow. You think it'd be harder to get control of this game… But I'm playing these people like Candyland! Gwen will be gone before you know it!" She tapped her chin and evilly grinned. "Just imagine what I could do if I was older…"

* * *

*T*S*R*

DJ walked out of the Fighting Ferrets' cabin, seeing that Geoff was sitting on the steps, looking up at the starry sky. "Hey, man… That sucks about Candace." He sat down next to Geoff, who looked back at his friend.

"Yeah," was all he managed to utter, resting his chin in his hand.

"You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah."

"You know I'm here to talk if you need to, right?"

"Yeah."

DJ nodded, looking up at the sky for a minute. He looked back at Geoff, who hadn't moved from his depressed pose.

"It's getting kind of late. You wanna head back inside?"

"Yeah."

"… Can you say anything else other than that?… Or move?"

"No."

DJ nodded sympathetically, then threw the blonde teen over his shoulder and carried him back inside.

*T*S*R*

"I never got to tell Courtney about the alliance… Stupid Chris. I hope he goes bald… So… where are you taking me, specifically?" Candace asked Chef, who was chugging the Boat of Losers along.

"Nearest airport," Chef gruffly said, not turning around to look at her. "Chris really screwed up this time."

Thinking she knew what he meant by that, she nodded. "Yeah. In so many ways." She played around with a loose string on the cushion of her seat and looked at Chef's back again. "Thanks for standing up for me back there."

"Hey, that wasn't about you!" Chef barked. "I'm just sick of that pretty boy snob!"

Candace still smiled. "You know you like me."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"I DO NOT, MAGGOT!"

Candace was unfazed. "You'll miss me every morning. I know I brightened up your morning with my cheerful conversations whenever you'd give me my insulin shot."

Chef grunted, but it didn't sound like it confirmed or denied anything.

"Say you'll miss me or I'm not giving you your gift," she chirped in a sing-song voice, her hands behind her back

Chef turned his head to shot a glance at her. "Gift? … What kind of gift?"

"A yummy one," Candace said, walking towards the wheel he was at, her hands still behind her back. She pulled out a tray behind her back and cried, "Ta-da! Brownies!"

"Brownies? Hot dog!" Chef spun around and gleefully took the brownies from her. His cheer suddenly disappeared and he glared at her. "Waaait just a cotton-pickin' minute! Do you think I was born yesterday? You put laxatives in this, didn't you? Or explosives or poison or-" He looked back at her and her newly gained unimpressed expression, then came to his senses and quietly said, "Oh, right… Forgot who I was talking to… Thank you."

Candace smiled and gave him a hug, which made him stiffen, but he didn't shove her away like he usually would have. "You may not miss me, but I'll miss you, Chef Hatchet…"

As she released him and walked back over to her seat, Chef sat the brownies down and sadly looked at them. When he was sure she was out of eat-shot, he quietly muttered, "I'll miss you, perky girl…"

"I heard that!" Candace squealed delightfully, off-screen.

"Dang it!" Chef exclaimed, slamming his hand down on the steering wheel.

* * *

I am prepared. Please kill me. I'd do it myself, but that'd be kind of emo.

It might feel like Chris was TOO mean, even for Chris, but… It will be explained. And this will not be the last you'll see of Candace, but I suppose you all could have guessed that.

Please be gentle in the reviews. I have my reasons… Not that I like them, but…

Grr. I hate this chapter. Not because of what happens, but because it's like I feel like I could have written it better, yet I don't know how… I'm sad :/


	47. Day 19, Part 1: The Price is Write

While most of the campers had just gotten out of bed and were dragging themselves into the mess hall to get their breakfast, Courtney was already up and sitting at her team's table, yammering away on her cell phone.

"What do you mean you have three cases to handle before you can start on mine?" Courtney screamed into her phone. "Ugh! You're the worst lawyer ever, Michael! If you weren't my cousin, I'd fire you!" She ended the call and slammed her phone down on the table, then crossed her arms and stated to grumble to herself.

"You're really torn up about Candace leaving, aren't you?" Jovie asked, taking the seat next to her. Gwen sat across from Jovie, trying to avoid making eye contact with Courtney by staring down at her runny yellow mess of a meal.

"I'm sick of unfair eliminations that Chris is too much of a jerk to make right," Courtney said, finally beginning to eat her watery scrambled eggs. "I've been where Candace is before… Except for the fact that what happened to her was about ten times worse than what happened to me."

* * *

"I used to think Courtney was kind of mean," Jovie said, smiling. "But she really has a good side… Though her good side sometimes mixes with her bad side and the results… Aren't good."

* * *

The Fighting Ferrets suddenly heard a distant wail. It was a wail that sounded familiar to Duncan and DJ, considering it was the same wail they heard after Bridgette had been voted off the previous year.

"Geoff's still crying?" Selena asked. She giggled and muttered, "He's such a crybaby."

"Speaking of crybabies, how'd your call to Zack go?" Marilee asked.

"Zack's not a crybaby!" Selena protested.

"Who said anything about him being the crybaby?"

"Yeah, how did that go?" Trent asked, poking at his eggs. "You seemed kind of shaken up when you gave me my phone back."

"Uh…"

_Flashback: The previous day, in the boat house, under the bucket _

_Selena scrunched up even more under her bucket, clutching Trent's cell phone to her ear. The annoying ring finally stopped and Selena quietly said, "Hello?"_

_"Um, hi. Who's this?"_

_"Jamal? Hi, this is Selena."_

_"… Who?"_

_"Um… Selena Caliver? Duncan's sister? Short, blonde and pink hair, incredibly awesome? I'm one of the competitors in Total Sibling Rivalry. I know we weren't on the same team, but I at least know who you are!"_

_"… Who's Duncan? Is he the guy with the guitar and the big head?"_

_Selena rolled her eyes. "And people call me dumb… Look, just put Zack on the phone, please." She heard him take a breath and she interrupted what he was about to say by explaining, "He's the scrawny kid with brown hair and skull t-shirt."_

_"Oh. I thought the drunk dude was Zack."_

_"That's Duke! Gosh, you're such a Lindsay!"_

_"… Who's Lindsay?"_

_"JUST PUT ZACK ON THE FIRETRUCKING PHONE!" she screamed, her patience getting as small as Jamal's brain._

_"Okay, sheesh! There's no need to yell, Zoey!"_

_"Zoey's my sis-" She didn't get to finish her sentence because she heard a voice she had wanted to hear for a while._

_"Uh, hello?" Zack asked. "Um… Not that I don't appreciate it, but why are you calling me, Marilee? I thought you still sort of hated me."_

_Selena rolled her eyes. Jamal was really bad with names. "Zack," she paused, still nervous. "It's… It's Selena."_

_"… Selena!" Zack happily cried, his joyful tone making her feel a little better. "I miss you so much, you have no idea!"_

_"Wait, you're not mad?"_

_"About what?"_

_"Um… The thing with Alejandro. I know you guys get to watch the live footage at Playa de Losers. I didn't really forget about you, it was a mistake and-"_

_"I know, I know. That doesn't matter to me… At least not anymore. All I care about is you."_

_Selena bit her lip and her eyes started to water. "Aww, Zack! That's the sweetest thing I ever heard! I wanna be with you so bad! This is the first time we've even spoken to each other since your elimination. We never got to cuddle or give each other stupid pet names or even have a real kiss on the lips like in all the rom-coms where sappy music plays and my foot pops up-"_

_"It won't be that way for too long," Zack said, trying to comfort her, since it sounded like she was going to cry. "The season will be over before you know it. You're going to make it all the way to the end."_

_"You really think so?" Selena pathetically asked, sniffling._

_"Of course! Believe me, when you and Duncan and Zoey win the money, I'm going to give you a music-playing, foot-popping kiss that will put those romantic comedies to shame!" Selena inwardly squeed and Zack continued, "And after the show, we can go on our first real date and I'll take you to whatever-"_

_"Whosit?" a slurred voice muttered, interrupting Zack._

_"Duke, go away, I'm talking to Selena," Zack grumbled, clearly annoyed._

_"S'lena? Like S'lena Qu…Que… Quesadilla- Parissss?" Duke slurred._

_"Dude, are you drunk? It's one in the afternoon!"_

_"Shaddup, Mooom!" It sounded like they were fighting over something and when Duke cried out, "Heeeey, __S'lenaaaa. I din't know yous was still aliiiiive," she knew that he had taken the phone._

_"Dude, give me the phone back!"_

_"No! I's talkin' to a sessy, dead chick!"_

_"Dang it, Raven, I thought we told you to keep him away from alcohol!" Zack distantly whined._

_Her voice was very distant, but Selena could slightly hear her reply, "That means I wouldn't be able to have any of it then! It's his booze!"_

_"Where's he getting it from? We're on an island in the middle of a lake! There are no liquor stores for miles!" Before Zack could rant anymore, he cried out, "Duke, get away from the pool! You're going to drop the pho-"_

_The only sound left in Selena's bucket was the sound of the tone. She certainly couldn't think of anything to say after hearing that nonsense._

_End Flashback_

"Uh… It went… okay." Selena silently sipped her orange juice, not saying another word about it. She was trying to forget the second half of the conversation herself…

"Maybe we should go comfort Geoff," DJ suggested, looking sympathetic. "He seems even more torn up this year than he was last year… If that's possible."

Marilee stood up, a look of dignity and pride on her face. "As Geoff's only sister, I volunteer… Trent to do it."

"No," Trent said, crossing his arms and giving her a look. "I helped Selena feel better yesterday and got murdered for it. You do it."

Marilee glanced incredulously at him. "Are you forgetting that I'm the team captain here? It's my responsibility to make sure our team members are in tip-top shape and since you're the best man for the job-"

"You're the co-captain, last time I checked," Trent told her, standing up, too. "And as co-captain, it should be _your_ responsibility to work together with your co-captain and _your own brother_ to help him get through this."

"Oh, what, you think I don't _want_ to?" Marilee snapped. "He's my brother. Of course I want him to feel better and I want to help him-"

"Then why don't you try and show it?" Trent asked.

Marilee looked at him for a second, then quietly said, "Fine, I will," and walked out of the mess hall.

The team stared at her quietly for a moment, and DJ finally broke the silence by asking, "Did you just tell Marilee what to do?"

Trent's forceful demeanor had faded and was replaced with one of shock. "Yeah… I think I did."

"I knew you had balls, DiCaprio," Duncan said, punching him in the arm a little harder than Trent would have liked. He shoved his plate aside and stood up. "I'm done eating this crud. Selena, Zoey, let's go."

Selena stood up, but hesitated when she saw that her sister was still seated. "But I'm not done," Zoey said, half a plate of watery yellow goop left.

"If you leave with us, I'll give you this chocolate bar," Duncan promised, pulling said candy out of his pocket and waving it in front of her face.

Zoey's green eyes widened. "Yes, master." The siblings walked out of the building, Duncan a few steps ahead of the girls.

"What was that about?" DJ asked, confused.

Trent shrugged, sitting back down. "Beats me. Who knows why Duncan does half the things he does."

Grace, who had been pretty quiet during breakfast, looked up from her plate and at the boys. "What did Duncan mean when he said Trent had balls? Was he talking about soccer balls or something?"

DJ and Trent awkwardly looked around the room, their mouths opening every once and again as if they were going to muster up an explanation, but they were quickly shut. After a few stutters and an "Um…" from each boy, DJ finally cried, "**Wow**, these are good eggs!" in hopes of distracting her.

"Yeah, the best!" Trent exclaimed, following suit. Both began eating again and Grace gave them a strange look before shrugging and continuing to eat as well.

*T*S*R*

"Dude, you managed to tick Trent, of all people, off," Duncan told Marilee, once he and his sisters caught up with her. "All you have to do is get Jovie so mad, she'll punch you in the face and you'll officially be the most irritating person on Earth."

"Dude," Marilee mimicked, "Just go to our meeting place like we agreed last night and leave me alone. I've got to find Geoff." Duncan shrugged and began walking towards the cave with Selena and Zoey.

Marilee continued to wander around the camp ground, trying to find where Geoff was by following his loud sobs. She finally found him in the first place she should have looked: the Confession Can.

* * *

"_I want Caaaandy_!" Geoff sadly sang between his sniffles and sobs. "_I-I-I waaaant Caaaandyyyy_!" He finally gave up on trying to sing Aaron Carter songs to express himself and just cried. He cried and cried until the door to the outhouse was jerked open and a finely manicured hand grabbed him by the front of his shirt and dragged him out.

* * *

"Geoff, I know you're hurting right now," Marilee quietly said, shutting the door to the Confession Can. "I just went through the sort of the same thing recently with Keith… except I, um, handled it a little better than you are…" She coughed and continued, "Well, I'm here to help, but I need to get something off my chest first." She walked into the outhouse and shut the door.

* * *

"Trent probably thinks he got me to change my mind about who got to comfort Geoff," Marilee said, rolling her eyes. "Please. I realized that I was the one who should comfort Geoff mere seconds before Trent suggested it." She quickly added, "And I realized Geoff might accidentally blab about our alliance with the Calivers… But I had good intentions! Sort of!"

* * *

"C'mon, big brother, let's see a smile," Marilee quietly said, grabbing the corner of Geoff's lips and pulling them up. When she removed her hands from his mouth, his fake smile sunk right back into a pout.

Geoff rubbed his teary eyes and groaned, "I appreciate you trying to make me feel better and all, Mar, but I don't think there's much you can do. I just feel like there's this big, gloomy cloud… like, over my soul and-"

"Geoff, quit acting like a gay emo kid. You're making it really hard for me to give you any sympathy," Marilee snapped.

"_Waaaaaaaah_!" Geoff wailed, covering his face with his hands and crying even harder than he was before she had showed up.

"Oh, boy," Marilee muttered. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry for yelling at you. I didn't mean it."

"I-I know you didn't." Geoff rubbed his eyes and sniffled. He plopped down on the ground and continued, "I'm just worried about her, is all. If it was a normal elimination, then it wouldn't be as bad, but Chris… He sent her away. For, like, ever!"

Marilee frowned, finally looking concerned, then sat down on the grass next to her brother, completely forgetting about getting grass stains on the seat of her purple ruffle skirt. "Geoff, things will work out," she calmly told him, allowing him to rest his head on her shoulder. She rubbed her hand up and down his shaking back in some sort of attempt to soothe him. "She isn't gone forever. You'll see Candace soon."

Geoff sighed, a ghost of a smile gracing his features. "You think so?"

"Yeah, of course. Chris probably won't be able to arrange any rides home for her by the time you're voted off, anyway. Let's go to our alliance meeting now." She stood up, gently pulling him up with her.

"Okay…" They walked toward the cave in silence for a moment, but Geoff suddenly stopped. "What makes you think I'm gonna get voted off so soon?"

"Don't ruin this nice moment, Geoffrey," Marilee told him as she began to drag him towards the cave.

*T*S*R*

"Okay, no matter what happens in today's challenge, we don't vote anybody in this cave off," Marilee told the other members of her alliance.

"You made us come here to tell us _that_?" Duncan asked, irritated. "That's the whole point of the alliance! Why did you have to call a meeting just to tell us that?"

"Because shut up," Marilee snapped, shooting him a deadly look. "I also came here to discuss who we vote off if we lose. DJ's a lot of muscle, so he might be useful… Then again, he's scared of his own shadow, so maybe not. Trent irritates me with his Trentness, so I won't miss seeing him go. And Grace… Grace will go."

"Why?" Zoey asked, looking sad, even though she was eating chocolate and nobody can be sad while eating chocolate. "She's my friend!"

"She's also a little brat," Marilee commented. "Or she seems like one, at least. I've never actually talked to her, but I can tell. I'm good at judging people without actually knowing anything about them."

Before Duncan could make a snarky comment about that, Marilee saw somebody suspicious run past the cave and she stood up. "What are you…"

"I'll be right back," Marilee told the group. "Talk amongst yourselves." She ran off, leaving the group in an awkward silence for a moment.

"Sooo…" Geoff drawled out, tapping his fingers against his knee. "Anyone seen any good movies lately?"

Duncan looked at Geoff like he grew another head. "Dude, we've been on this island for weeks. How could anyone here have seen a movie recently?"

"I hear there's going to be a Yu-Gi-Oh movie coming out to celebrate Yu-Gi-Oh's tenth anniversary," Selena casually said, rhythmically swinging her legs back and forth as she looked up at Geoff.

"Dude, I used to love that show!" Geoff enthusiastically said.

"Me too!" Selena cried, getting more excited. "All three protagonists from the three Yu-Gi-Oh shows are going to be working together to fight against some bad guy by playing a children's card game with him! And the movie's in 3-D!"

"OH MY GOSH THAT'S GOING TO BE THE BEST MOVIE EVER WE HAVE TO GO SEE IT!" Geoff screamed, jumping up from his rock.

"HOLY CHEESE I KNOW WE SHOULD TOTALLY GO TOGETHER I'M GONNA DRESS UP AS BAKURA AND YOU CAN GO AS MARIK I'VE GOT A MILLENNIUM ROD YOU CAN BORROW AND EVERYTHING!" Selena screeched, standing up and glomping Geoff.

"Will you two quit nerding out and…" Duncan paused, looking at his sister as she jumped off of Geoff. "Wait, where'd you get a… _Millennium Rod_? Isn't that the big golden stick that one Egyptian girl carries around?"

"I know a guy," Selena said with a shrug. "And Marik's a boy."

"… Really?"

Marilee walked back into the cave, sat back down and said, "We're not voting Grace off."

"What's with the sudden change of heart?" Selena asked.

"Yeah, what happened while you were gone?" Geoff asked.

"I don't really want to say yet," Marilee told the group. "But little Grace DiCaprio could be an asset to me… Uh, I mean us…"

*T*S*R*

"Campers!" Chris exclaimed, standing on the amphitheater's stage with the remaining contestants in the stands. "Are you excited for your next challenge?" He smiled at them for a moment, but most of them just glared at him. "Hey, what's with the long, silent faces? This is the part where you all say "No" or "Not really" or "I wanna go home" or some other whiny nonsense!"

"Booooo!"

"Bring Candace back!"

"Chris McLean stinks!"

"I miss the silence!" Chris whined, crossing his arms and frowning. "You guys can shut up and sit back down, because it's challenge time whether there are cheating orphans here or not!"

"That's it, I'm calling my lawyer again!" Courtney exclaimed, whipping out her cell phone and storming out of the stands. "Third time's the charm!"

Chris waited until she was out of earshot until he continued with the introduction to the challenge. "Your challenge is one that might only be familiar to our nerdier contestants. Today, three members from each team will be… writing Total Drama fan fiction!"

"Fan fiction? What's that?" Geoff asked, even more confused than usual.

"Ooooh! Ooooh! I know!" Selena exclaimed, jumping out of her seat and waving her hand wildly. "Let me explain it, Chris! Chris!" She jumped up and down more and cried, "CHRIIII-"

"Fine!" he yelled, clearly annoyed by her high-pitched squealing. "Be my guest!"

Selena cleared her throat and announced, "A fan fiction is a story about the characters from a certain show, movie or book that was written by a fan instead of the creator of that fandom. I guess in this case, we're writing about ourselves. It's really fun, though! I've written a bunch of Naruto oneshots and they all got like thirty reviews each!"

"Wow, that's pretty good as far as oneshots go," Gwen commented, eyebrows raised.

"And how would you know that, sunshine?" Duncan asked, smirking like always. "Are you a closet nerd?"

Gwen rolled her eyes at him, still smiling, and said, "No…" She looked down at her lap and rubbed the back of her head. The Goth quietly and quickly added, "I just happen to have written a few fan stories for The Nightmare Before Christmas… And one for Harry Potter, but Harry Potter is awesome, so that's excusable…"

"Aww, bashful all of a sudden, little geeky Goth girl?" Duncan teased, sitting up straighter than usual and winking at her.

Courtney, after having another failed conversation with her lawyer/cousin, was storming back to the stands, She couldn't hear any of the words they were saying, but she was able to see Duncan wink at Gwen. She gasped and was considering stomping away again, but no! He might do something else flirty! Like wave at her! Or smile at her! Or even acknowledge her existence! Courtney was not going to stand for that!

She headed back towards the Ravens' stands, then sat down next to Jovie, but not before glaring at the back of Gwen's head.

* * *

"See, they're flirting behind my back again!" Courtney exclaimed. "I leave for five seconds and BAM! They're all over each other! … I mean, they were in different stands and all… And he could have just had something stuck in his eye… No, my instinct is right! It has to be! I'm a CIT!"

* * *

"Thank you all for once again taking my spotlight away," Chris complained, stomping his foot on the squeaky wooden stage. "Now, as I was saying, three members from each team will write a story. A panel consisting of three surprise guest judges will rate the stories on a scale of one to ten and whichever team has the best stories will win. Raving Ravens, since you only have three members left on your team, you're all stuck doing it. As for you, Fighting Ferrets, you have six members on your team that actually know how to write."

"I can write my name!" Zoey exclaimed, raising her hand.

"Yeah… But 'Zoey' doesn't really make much of a fan fiction," Chris flatly said.

She gloomily looked down and muttered, "I think it would."

Chris continued, "And how are we going to choose which three of you will write?"

"We talk amongst ourselves about who would be best for the job?" DJ suggested.

"That's a good idea, but it's really boring." Chris walked toward stage left and threw his hand in the air. "That's why we're going to use… The Wheel of Ferrets!"

Tamyra walked out of stage right, pushing a giant spinning wheel in front of her. The wheel had six segments on it, each one containing a picture of each eligible Ferret. "This is ridiculous, Chris. This isn't The Wheel of Fortune."

"Of course not. This is the Wheel of Ferrets! Learn to listen!" He cleared his throat and turned to the three Raving Ravens. "You girls will each get a spin. Whoever you land on will be one of Ferrets who will participate in this challenge. If you land on someone who's already been chosen, then you get another spin. Courtney, you're up first."

"I still don't know what we're doing, but okay," Courtney said, walking up on stage and giving the wheel a good spin. After a while, it finally decided to land on a picture of Selena.

"Woo-hoo!" Selena cheered, jumping back up. "I already have the perfect idea for a story!"

"I bet our panel of judges can't wait to read it," Chris sarcastically said. "Gwen, you're next."

"Story? What the heck is she talking about?" Courtney asked as she sat back down. Jovie decided to fill her in on the challenge while Gwen walked up and spun the wheel. To Courtney's chagrin, it landed on Duncan.

* * *

"Okay, that wasn't necessarily Gwen's fault, but it still makes me angry, for some reason," Courtney said, crossing her arms and pouting a bit.

* * *

Duncan grumbled something to himself, then said, "Great. Never doing my writing assignments in school has finally come back to bite me in the butt."

Marilee leaned over to him and harshly whispered, "You are going to do your best on this challenge, got it? We need to keep winning and if you screw up, I'll-"

"Marilee's the final Ferret participating in the challenge!" Chris exclaimed, as Jovie had gone up and spun the wheel while Marilee was lecturing her alliance member.

"You'll _what_?" Duncan asked, raising his unibrow at her.

"I'll… write the best story I possibly can so I can help my wonderful team win!" Marilee said, trying to look cheery.

"I'd say you guys have quite a bit of competition," Courtney said, looking proud. "I get top marks on my writing assignments in school and so do Gwen and Jovie."

Jovie looked at her, very confused. "I've never told you that."

"Neither have I," Gwen commented, looking frightened.

Courtney looked up at the sky, rubbing her arm. "I might have done some background checks on a few of the contestants before coming to the island and you two happened to be two of them…"

"Stalker," Gwen muttered, thinking she was quiet enough for Courtney not to hear. She wasn't.

"There are three laptops set at each table in the mess hall," Chris told the six teens. "You have two hours to write your story, then our panel will be revealed to read and judge them."

"Two hours?" Jovie asked. "That's not enough time at all!"

"Don't care!" Chris cried. "We'll be right back after this commercial break!"

* * *

Oh boy. I can already tell this won't end well.

Sorry this chapter's kind of short. They can't all be novels.

Who are the three mystery judges? Who will win? Who will lose? What did Marilee find out about Grace? Will we ever see poor Candace again? Does a movie about children's card games really need to be in 3-D? Find out in the next chapter of Total Sibling Rivalry!


	48. Day 19, Part 2: Insert Writing Pun Here

Well, time to read horrible fan fiction within horrible fan fiction. I don't own Total Drama Comeback or Total Drama Chris (the latter of which you might want to read to get a joke that is made later on) Enjoy!

* * *

Courtney was busily typing away on one of the three laptops for the Raving Ravens, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Jovie was the only teammate of hers that was there.

"Where's Gwen?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at the untouched laptop next to her.

Jovie looked up from her typing and pointed out the door. "Gwen says she writes better in solitude. And when she writes in her notebook first. She's writing in the cabin."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "She always has to do things the hard way, doesn't she? Like getting a new boyfriend by trying to steal mine!"

Jovie sighed, then looked back up at Courtney. "Hun, you really need to let that go. Duncan doesn't like Gwen like that and Gwen doesn't like Duncan like that."

"Did someone say my name?" Duncan cockily asked as he walked over and took a seat next to Courtney. He leaned closer to the former CIT and cocked his unibrow. "You miss me, team captain?"

Courtney snapped her laptop shut, glaring at him. "Quit trying to spy on us!"

"I don't think he was trying to-"

Courtney interrupted Jovie's explanation by standing up, dragging Duncan with her. "If you want to beat us so badly, then maybe you should be working on your own story!"

"I already finished mine."

"What?" Courtney blinked at him, shocked by this. "B-But you only typed for about two, three minutes tops!"

"And you accuse _me_ of spying," Duncan scoffed, smug as ever.

"Just go!" Courtney ordered, shoving him away. "… I love you!" she added soon after. She almost slapped herself for sounding so desperate. She was lucky she wasn't able to see Duncan's smirk after he walked back to his table, or else she would have.

"Aaaaaand done!" Marilee exclaimed with one final push of the period key. She saved her document and was getting ready to proofread it when Selena bounced over, having just finished her story.

"How's the story going?" Selena asked, sitting down next to her.

"Pretty good…" Marilee looked away from her monitor and at Selena, who was wearing a black beanie she was pretty sure she hadn't been wearing before. "Uh, what's with the hat?"

"This is my thinking cap!" Selena said with pride.

* * *

"That explains why we've never seen her wearing it before…" Marilee snarkily said, rolling her eyes.

* * *

"It technically isn't a cap, though… It's just a hat."

"… What?"

"You see, caps usually have visors on them, like baseball caps, and yours doesn't have-"

"Can I read your story?" Selena asked, changing the subject at lightning speed.

"No," Marilee said, quickly closing her document. "You have to wait just like everyone else."

"Pleeeeeease?" the pink-clad girl pleaded, cuddling her fellow blonde so closely that their cheeks were smashed against one another. "I'll be your best friend on the show!"

Marilee quirked an eyebrow. "You _are_ my best friend on the show."

"… I am? Yay!" She completely forgot about Marilee's story and skipped out of the mess hall.

Duncan shook his head. "I am not related to her. I swear I'm not. Being born with a brain sort of runs in our family."

Marilee sighed, "Selena's the sweetest thing and I love her and all, but that girl doesn't have the brains the good Lord gave a chunk of concrete…" Marilee tossed a glance at him, then quietly said, "We actually agree on something. We never agree on anything."

Duncan rolled his eyes and let out a snort. "It's not like Selena being an idiot is a debatable topic." Marilee let out a mumble, sounding somewhat confirmative, and went back to editing.

Little did either know that Selena had paused by the door to go back to edit her story and had heard everything they said. Well, after that, she certainly didn't have the guts to go back.

* * *

"I… I can't believe they said that about me!" Selena cried, looking ready to burst into tears. "Am I really that stupid? I-I always knew I wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, but stupid? An idiot?" She sniffled and rubbed her nose against her sleeve. "I have to ask the other Ferrets! Marilee and Duncan are kind of the mean ones around here. Surely everyone else will disagree!"

* * *

"Hi, Geoff," Selena greeted, taking a seat next to him on the shore of the lake. "How are you holding up?"

"I've been better," he sullenly admitted, once again back into his depression. "I'll only be okay for sure when I know Candace is fine."

"Yeah…" Normally, she would have been more sympathetic and let Geoff vent to her, but she was a woman on a mission. "Geoff?"

"Hm?" He was still looking out at the lake, but grunted to let her know he had heard her.

"Do you think I'm stupid?'

"…" For the first time since she arrived, Geoff looked at her. She didn't seem to notice that he looked like a deer in the headlights. "Uh… wha?"

"Do you think I'm stupid? Like, a moron?" Selena's gaze was cast downwards as she rubbed her arm awkwardly. "I sort of heard Marilee and Duncan saying mean things about me and I thought I'd get a second opi-" A splash interrupted her and she looked up.

Geoff was nowhere in sight and there was a huge ripple about five feet in front of the dock.

*T*S*R*

"Uh… Um…" DJ tried to avoid meeting Selena's expectant glance by looking at the trees around them. "I'd _love_ to answer that question for you-"

"Then why don't you?" Selena asked, frowning.

"Because, uh… I have to feed… my pet beaver!" Before she could point out that a simple yes or no response would only take three seconds at the most, DJ sped off in the opposite direction.

"Hmm. I didn't know DJ had a beaver."

*T*S*R*

"What?" Trent asked, eyes widening at Selena's question. He and Grace had been on the steps of their cabin when Selena approached them. "Um… Of… Of course no-"

"Yeah," Grace simply responded, not looking the least bit fazed by the heartbroken expression Selena gained.

"_Grace_!" Trent stage-whispered, secretly relieved he had an excuse not to answer the blonde. "You shouldn't say things like that!"

Grace pulled her most innocent face and told him, "You also shouldn't lie, big brother."

Trent looked back up at Selena, who looked ever more miserable than she did the day before, and awkwardly said, "I, uh, like what you've done with your hair."

"I'm wearing a hat!" Selena screeched, pointing to said beanie.

* * *

"IT'S TRUE!" Selena screamed, knees pulled up to her chest as she rocked back and forth and continued to sob. "I am stupid!" She buried her face into her knees and mumbled, "Everyone here thinks I'm a joke and they act like I can't do anything right!" She sniffled and lifted her head up, staring right at the camera. "Well, not anymore!" She wiped her tears away with her clenched fists, brows suddenly furrowing in determination. "I'll show them. I'll show them all, especially Marilee and Duncan!"

A knock was heard and Marilee called out, "Selena, c'mon, Chris is getting ready to reveal the judges."

"YOU ARE NOT THE BOSS OF ME, MARILEE ANDERSON! I AM MY OWN PERSON AND I DECIDE WHO I AM!"

"… Okay then."

* * *

*T*S*R*

"Where are the others?" Gwen asked. The only ones in the cabin were the writers and Chris.

"I didn't invite them," Chris explained. "They would just get in the way."

"But I wanted everyone to be able to read my story!" Marilee exclaimed. "It's even better than Total Drama Comeback and Total Drama Chris combined!"

"Total Drama Chris was great… But then it had such a sad ending… For the most important character, at least." Chris shook his head. "Never mind. Let's meet our celebrity judges!… Well, one of them is a celebrity. One of them is an online celebrity, which isn't technically a _real_ celebrity, but still… And one… Well, I just had a good feeling about her."

"Just introduce them already!" Courtney snapped.

Chris stepped to the side of the front entrance and looked expectantly at it. "He's an Honor Roll student, the youngest of nine kids, and may or may not be a closeted homosexual! Give a warm welcome toooo… Noah!"

The bookworm himself opened the door and wandered inside, not looking thrilled about Chris' last comment. "For the last time, McLean, the thing with Cody last season was sleep-induced and doesn't-"

"Yeah yeah, no one cares," Chris muttered, waving at him dismissively. "Sit down and wait for the others." Noah shrugged and sat down at the long table placed perpendicular to the projector screen set up in front of the fireplace.

"Our next judge has seventeen Total Drama blogs, knows everything about pretty much every Total Drama contestant… even some of the new ones… and was voted Most Likely to Have a Restraining Order Against Her!"

"Hiiiiiii, Total Dramsters!" A purple-haired girl bounced in the door and upon seeing her, Selena screamed like a little girl and hid behind Jovie.

"That's right! It's Sierra!" Chris exclaimed.

"It's so great to see you all again!" Sierra cried, running over to the current authors. "Ooooh, especially _you_, Selena, my little gossip fountain!"

"Oh, uh, don't mention it," Selena muttered, peeking out from her hiding spot behind Jovie. "Seriously, don't mention it… Not in front of you-know-who..." She snuck a peek at Duncan, who was too busy not caring to notice either girls or their conversation. He could never know that she revealed his middle name to anybody… She valued her life, after all.

Sierra was about to take a seat, but noticed something. "Uh, where's Cody? I didn't see him outside and he's not in here either." She gasped. "You all didn't vote him off, did you?"

"Oh, don't worry, Sierra," Chris reassured her. "You'll see Cody later on…"

"Chris, what are you doing?" Marilee asked, walking over to him with a raised eyebrow. "Cody's not he-"

The host slapped his hand over her mouth and whispered, "Chillax, I've got this covered. Do you know how she'd react if she knew Cody was G-O-N-E?"

Marilee responded by biting his hand. After he yanked his hand off and whined, Marilee smirked. "Probably like that, huh?"

"Ow! Didn't your mother ever teach you not to bite people?" Chris griped, wiping his hand off on his pants.

"Didn't _your_ mother ever teach you not to be a total jerk?" Marilee shot back.

"I don't have a mother," Chris quietly said, glaring at her.

For a moment, Marilee was actually speechless. "Oh, wow… I-I'm sorry, Chris. I… I had no ide-"

"Because I _fired_ her!"

"… What?"

"She thought she could send me to my room…" Chris scoffed. "I sent _her _somewhere even worse!"

Marilee had nothing to say to that. And that's saying something.

"Now, onto our final judge!" Chris shoved Marilee back towards the other contestants and continued, "She's _also_ the youngest of nine kids, has lived in twelve different countries and… I don't remember how I found her. It's-"

"Rosalinda?" Gwen questioned as soon as the Latina walked through the door.

"Gwen!" Rosalinda exclaimed. She walked over and gave the Goth a hug, which she awkwardly returned. "How's it going, chica?"

"Um, okay, I guess," Gwen said after they separated. "What are you doing here?'

"Ask Chris," Rosalinda said, pointing at Chris as she sat down between Noah and Sierra.

"I just told you, I don't remember!" Chris crossed his arms and huffed.

Marilee, who had been tapping her chin and squinting her eyes at Rosalinda since she walked into the room, snapped her fingers and yelled out, "I know you! You're the girl who fed those wannabe gangster clothes to Chester the goat! And your super hot brother gave him that-"

"Shh!" Rosalinda hissed, brown eyes widening. "Have you never heard of customer confidentiality?"

"Okay… I'm just going to ask, since it seems like nobody else is going to," Gwen began, looking over at the three judges. "Why did you pick these guys to be the judges?"

"Excellent question, Gwen!" Chris pointed to Noah, who had apparently pulled out a book to read since he sat down. "Noah is here because, like I mentioned before, he is an honor roll student. He'll judge your fan fics based on how well they're written. Sierra is very familiar with the Total Drama fandom. She's written over eighty fan fictions for this very show, actually! She'll judge based on the plot and the characters and how well they're written."

"I specialize in Duncney fanfics!" Sierra proclaimed proudly. "I once wrote one that got over twenty five reviews, and all I wrote about was them necking each other!"

"… As if things weren't awkward _enough_ between us now," Courtney muttered to herself.

"And, Rosalinda…" Chris paused. "Well, she seems kind of smart."

"My eldest brother is a published author!" Rosalinda exclaimed. "I've also studied literature at one of the finest private schools in England! You're saying the only reason you chose me is because I _seem kind of smart_?"

"… No! I knew all of those things you just said." Chris cleared his throat and nobody bothered to fight him on that statement. "Now, let's get this started…" He walked over to the laptop hooked up to the projector and clicked a few buttons. "I've got all of your stories saved on my laptop and they will be projected on the screen in front of us. I, being the best story teller ever, will read them aloud. Let's start with our apparently amazing authoress, Marilee!"

* * *

**Marilee's Wonderful Day**

_When Marilee woke up, she felt so filled with joy that she had to go out to spread the joy that she was experiencing with the others. But before Marilee could do that, she had to get prepared for the day. She wouldn't want to disappoint her many, many admirers by looking less fabulous than usual!_

_Making sure not to touch the cheap, ineffective shampoo bottles the other girls used on their hair, Marilee took her morning shower, and washed her hair and the rest of her body. That way, she wouldn't stink like that hippie Bridgette._

_After drying her body off and blow-drying her gorgeous hair, Marilee put on her outfit for the day. She made it herself, but it didn't look shabby, like it might have if somebody stupid had made it. Her amazing outfit consisted of a super cute black tube top and sexy yellow short shorts, ones that did _not _make her butt look like a big, lumpy lemon, no matter what her stupid brother Duke said. Like _he _has any fashion sense. He's dumb._

* * *

"I can't help but feel like your writing is a bit… biased. In more ways than one," Sierra commented.

"Shh!" Marilee pointed to the projection screen. "We're getting to the good part!"

* * *

_Once Marilee stepped into the mess hall, it was as if a bright light had been cast upon the other contestants' gloomy, meaningless lives._

"_Marilee!" Courtney exclaimed. She fell to her knees and bowed down to Marilee's wonderful wonderfulness. "I am not worthy! I am not worthy!" _

"_Neither am I!" Jovie screamed, mimicking Courtney's actions._

"_Let's face it…_ None _of us are!" Gwen exclaimed. "Especially not me, in all my pale, hideously-clothed, self-loathing bitterness!"_

"_Three cheers for Marilee!" Duncan cried out, not being a big, stupid jerk face for once._

"_No, three_ hundred _cheers!" Selena cried._

* * *

"Yeeeeeah, let's stop here," Noah said, clicking the story off the projection screen and standing up.

"Hey, you cut it off at the best part!" Marilee snapped. "That was right before the part where I-"

"That's the problem. _You're_ the only one who did anything in that so-called story… And that's not saying much, since all you did was get dressed and walk into the room."

Marilee strutted over to the bookworm and glared at him. "Well, I'm… taller than you are!"

"Take off those four inch stilettos and say that again, honey," Noah said with a smug smirk.

"… Go make out with Cody's ear!" Marilee lamely replied, storming out of the mess hall.

* * *

"Chris lied to me," Noah said, still smirking. "He told me Marilee was one of the smart ones in this season."

* * *

"I give it a three out of ten." Noah shrugged and sat back down. "I might have ranked higher if there was… you know, an actual plot. But alas, there wasn't one."

"The writing was decent, so I'll give it a seven," Rosalinda said.

"I _was_ going to give Marilee's story a seven…" Sierra paused, suddenly gaining a deadly look on her face. "But that crack about Cody's ear just knocked my score for it down to a two."

"Next up is Selena!" Chris announced, pulling her story up on the screen. "Let's hope this ones better than the last!"

* * *

**The day the knew girl cam end every1 Loved her!**

_It was a bountiful Sumer mourning at Camp Wawa aqua end Chris mad al the con test ants go 2 the am pie theater_

'_campers!' Christ ex clamed ass he locked at every won. 'I m board wit moist of yew, so I m b ringing a knew purse on in too the come petition!1'_

_A girl walked out form bee hind the Kurt in and every won grasped. The knew girl head dark black hare that went al the whey dawn too heir but and it had loots off died streaks in it sum where blew and sum w here a brunch off otter collars. She whore the beast cloths ever like even beater then watt My lee Cirrus wood were. Here ayes where pink even thought that is knot really puss bible and she had the vice off a angle. She was all so gouda at dance sing_

'_hi gays!1!' the new bee yielded. "May name is Bella Stella Daniella Jonas but yew can call me Bella four short ha ha she leafed_

_OMG I Think I love yew,' Dunking ex clamed. "Yew our sew much bet tar 4 me then that stooped Court knee girl! Year Evan hot ear then gwen!1!' Than they starred may king ought and than they gout marry Ed_

_ThE eNd!1!_

* * *

"… I should have known that would jinx it," Chris muttered to himself.

Duncan's eye twitched, then he turned to Selena. "That was _horrible_! I thought you said you'd get, like, thirty reviews for each of your stories!"

Selena shrugged. "I never said they were _nice _reviews."

"Um…" Sierra poked Noah, who was now unconscious and face-down on the ground. "I don't think Noah liked your fanfic, either…"

"Why not?" Selena sadly asked.

"Well…" Sierra rested a hand on her forehead. "Oh boy, how should I put this? Um… It was horrible?" She nodded, content with her answer. "Yeah, that's it."

"Selena, _chica_," Rosalinda began, resting a hand on the depressed Selena's shoulder. "Let me give you a little bit of constructive criticism. First of all, the spelling needs… improvement."

"But I used spell check!" Selena argued.

"Yes, but… Sometimes the computer doesn't _know _what word you meant to type and it uses the wrong one."

"… Oh."

"And there needed to be a lot more romantic development between your Mary S- I mean, original character and, um, _Dunking_. It makes it more interesting for the reader if there's at least a few paragraphs about the two before they… get married."

"Who the frick was 'Dunking' supposed to be, anyways? Is he another one of those original character things?" Duncan asked, genuinely confused. "And who does he think he is, talking about my girlfriend like that? I'll kick his imaginary ass!"

* * *

"Aww, Duncan does still care about me," Courtney calmly cooed, looking pleased. Her eyes suddenly widened. "Wait. He talked about Gwen in Selena's story too." She gasped and started panicking. "Which one was he talking about?"

* * *

"I give it a… two." Sierra nodded. "The work was shotty, at best, there was no plot, and there wasn't even any Cody in it."

"I'll give it a two, as well," Rosalinda quietly said, avoiding eye contact with a teary-eyed Selena. She helped Noah back into his seat, and he was just barely conscious.

"It's a one," Noah muttered, gripping his pounding head. "I don't think I need to explain why."

* * *

"This wasn't the best start on my trip to being smarterer," Selena quietly said, pulling her thinking beanie down over her eyes to cover her shame.

* * *

"Up next is Duncan, our only male author here!" Chris proclaimed. "Which is pretty accurate, since most fan fiction authors are female. I guess now we'll find out if he's one of the few males who can actually write."

"Dude, trust me, I'm not," Duncan said with a roll of his eyes.

* * *

**Total Sibling Rivalry Abridged **

_One summer, twelve of the old contestants from Total Drama Island came back to the crappy island with sixteen of their stupid siblings. They competed against each other, some of them hooked up, and one of the families won the money. The end._

* * *

"Dude!" Selena gasped, looking horrified. "You just spoiled the whole season for all of our viewers!"

"One," Sierra flatly said.

"One," Rosalinda muttered, shaking her head.

"Can we go any lower?" Noah asked.

"The panel doesn't seem to like the Fighting Ferrets today," Chris commented with a smirk. "Let's see if Courtney sucks a little less at writing fan fiction…"

"Oh, I am an excellent writer," Courtney proudly told everyone. "But just so there's no confusion, this is an alternate universe story, so it won't be held on the island."

"Where is it, then?" Sierra asked. "In Cody's bed room?"

"Eww, no!" Courtney gagged. "Just read to find out!"

* * *

**A Day in the Life of Courtney Mann**

_It was 6:43 AM when Courtney woke up for the day. She was awake two minutes earlier than usual. "What an excellent way to start the day," Courtney said. _

_Courtney got out of bed and stood up. She made her bed, making sure her pillow was perfectly fluffed for that night when she went back to bed. Courtney went to the bathroom and took a shower, then dried her hair and got dressed for the day. She looked very professional, as she usually did. _

_Courtney walked downstairs and had oatmeal, a very healthy breakfast, because breakfast is the most important meal of the day and those who eat breakfast do better in school. She washed her bowl so that the oatmeal would not harden on the bowl and then got her book bag._

"_Courtney, it's time for school," Courtney's mother said._

"_Thank you, Mother," Courtney said._

_Courtney walked out the door and got inside her car, where she drove 3.4 miles to her high school. She parked in the seventh spot in the fourth row in the school parking lot and got out of her car. She walked to the front door, but not before looking both ways in the drop off lane to make sure there were no oncoming cars. _

_Once she got inside the building, she went to her locker in the main hallway of the school, unlocked it, and placed all of the books she wouldn't need for a while into the locker. She took out the books she would need for her first two classes, Chemistry and Trigonometry. After shutting her locker and making sure it was properly locked, she went to her first class, which was in the third hallway on the first level of the school._

* * *

A loud snore interrupted Chris' dull narration, and everybody focused on Duncan, who had somehow managed to fall asleep standing up.

Courtney rolled her onyx eyes. "Very funny, Duncan. We all know you're faking." She shoved him and he fell down, but he didn't wake up. "… Oh."

* * *

_Once Courtney was in Room 307, she sat down in the first desk in the fourth row and began to take the notes that the teacher had written on the whiteboard in red erasable marker. Courtney's handwriting was flawless. The notes she took in her college ruled notebook looked excellent. _

"_Why is Courtney the only student in my class who can write properly?" the teacher asked._

"_We're sorry," the rest of the class said. _

"_Courtney gets an A for the day for her wonderful handwriting while the rest of you all fail," the teacher said._

"_Thank you, sir," Courtney said._

* * *

"Oh, Lord. Stop, stop, just… _stop_," Noah pleaded, gripping and shaking his head.

"What?" Courtney snapped, glaring at him. "That was excellent writing! Surely better than any of the other stories here!" Marilee chose this moment to re-enter the room, then glared at Courtney for that comment.

"It was almost as egotistical as Marilee's story. But at least Marilee doesn't write like a computer or an eighty year old man." Noah slumped in his seat, bored, as he crossed his arms. "I give it a five."

"No Cody. Four," Sierra deadpanned.

"I found it to be better than the other stories, so I'll give Courtney's a seven," Rosalinda said. "I would have rated higher, but it lacked creativity."

"This is outrageous!" Courtney cried. "You haven't even finished my story! There's a part towards the end where I tutor Selena in every single subject and she thanks me for curing her of her stupidity!"

"Your _face _needs curing!" Selena lamely exclaimed, trying not to show how much that statement actually hurt. "Curing from… its ugliness!"

"Let's end this fight before it gets even lamer… If that's possible," Chris mumbled. He saw that Duncan was still asleep and kicked him in the side.

"Mmm, lemme sleep, Ma," Duncan mumbled, still not entirely awake. "I had that nightmare with the sock monkey and wood chipper again…"

"Ooooh, that could be blog-worthy!" Sierra said to herself, pulling out her trusty notebook and jotting down something.

Selena walked over to her brother and plainly said, "Duncan, I'm taking your soccer ball and donating it to an orphanage."

Duncan sat up instantly. "I stole that ball fair and square, you little-" He saw where he was, stood up and muttered, "Uh, never mind."

"Next up is Gwen… Wait, I don't see your story on here." Chris continued to look around on the folders and files in his laptop.

"I didn't have time to type it up," Gwen told him, handing the host her black notebook. "You'll have to read it from this."

"A _notebook_?" Chris questioned, looking at the item in his hands as if it was a fossilized dinosaur egg. "Who under fifty writes in a _notebook _anymore?"

Gwen glared at him. "Just start reading. And, um…" She bit back a laugh. "Just to warn you all, this story's a little… mature. Those who don't have the mental maturity to handle it might not want to listen."

Jovie began to cover Selena's ears, but she quickly pulled away and looked at Jovie in shock. "Jovie… Not you too!"

"What are you talking about?" Jovie asked, looking at her innocently.

"You think I'm stupid too!"

"I-I don't think that!" Jovie said, though the look in her eyes made Selena think she was lying. "I just didn't want you to hear anything inappropriate. You're only thirteen and-"

"I can handle it. I'll show you," Selena huffed, crossing her arms and looking over at Chris. Jovie shot a quick glance at her, clearly worried about Selena's sudden attitude, but chose not to say anything else. By that point, Chris has already started reading from the journal.

* * *

**Lust and Passion**

_Two sets of tan, sweat-covered bodies pressed against each other, giving their kiss everything they had. His lips were so smooth… He deepened the kiss and traced his tongue along his significant other's lips, practically begging him for access. The other complied, opening his mouth ever so slightly. He wouldn't want his lover to get _too _much from this, after all._

_Their tongues collided, wrestling each other with all their might. He tasted musky, yet sweet, just like he thought he should taste. He wanted more… So much more… He wanted all of him, every single part of him. _

"_It's time," he whispered as soon as they separated from their kiss._

_His dark-haired lover's green eyes widened. "Are you sure? W-We might be taking things too fast…"_

"_I want you. I need you. I know you feel the same way," he quietly said, his hand slowly going down to the other's jeans. He unbuttoned them and there was no struggling, so he knew that he felt the same way that he did. He stopped momentarily, then pounced on him for another kiss, already missing the taste of his beloved._

_They separated. Emerald eyes met teal ones as the pierced teen's hand ran his finger down his partner's glistening chest. "I love you, Trent."_

_Trent quivered at his touch and whispered, "I love you too, Duncan."_

* * *

"NO," Duncan yelled, snatching the notebook. "NO NO NO A MILLION TIMES NO."

By this point, Gwen was on the floor from laughing so hard. Along with almost all of the contestants and two of the judges.

"That was just _horrifying_!" Courtney screamed. "Trent isn't gay and Duncan _especially_ isn't gay!"

"You've got that right, toots!" Duncan exclaimed, flipping through the pages, looking angrier than ever.

Noah, who was laughing harder than anybody had ever seen him laugh, pounding his fist on the panel table a few times. After taking more than two minutes to calm down, he was finally able to choke out, "Now _that_ story deserves a ten!"

"How about I give you ten punches to the gut, nerd?" Duncan threatened, shaking his fist as he finally looked up from the accursed story.

Rosalinda, who was one of the few people not laughing, had a tissue held up to her nose and her face was flushed. "I thought it was excellent writing," she said, hoping nobody would notice the crimson stains on the tissue. "I will give your story a nine… Um, could somebody get me another tissue?"

Sierra, still giggling like crazy, said, "Even though I would have preferred Cody to be in there somewhere, I'll give it an eight."

"I could always pen Cody in there somewhere," Gwen said between laughs. "I've never written a threesome before."

"You do and I'll totally give it a ten!" Sierra squealed, feeling a nosebleed of her own coming on at the mere thought of that.

"NO," Duncan screamed, gripping the journal tighter than ever. "If anyone's editing this, it's going to be _me_, and I'm editing all the gay crap out of it!" He dug around in his pocket, but then realized that he didn't carry a pen with him. "Somebody give me a pen!"

Marilee, who was bent over from laughing so hard, stood up and pulled a pen out of her pocket. "H-H-Here, use m-my Marilee-Pen!" She handed it to him, and upon inspection, he saw that calling it the _Marilee-Pen _was actually quite accurate. It was bright purple, read _Marilee _in white swirly letters on the side and the pen was topped with a chibi version of Marilee's head. "I had it custom-made," she said, once she managed to stop giggling.

"I can tell," Duncan grumbled. He clicked the pen and as he did, the pen chirped out, "Marilee is the prettiest girl in the whole world!" Everyone laughed at Duncan even more, while the punk glared at Marilee. "Can I have a different pen?"

"No."

"Why'd you make it say that, out of all things?"

"Even I need a confidence boost every now and again."

Duncan shook his head and threw the pen back at Marilee. "It's not worth it."

"But you didn't even get to comment on the purple ink yet!" Marilee exclaimed, beginning to laugh once again.

"Screw you guys, I'm going back to the cabin!" Duncan stormed out, leaving the others to laugh out loud and roll on the floor even more.

* * *

"Well, that… Surprisingly worked out in my favor," Courtney muttered. "There's no way Duncan would forgive Gwen for embarrassing him like that! I can't imagine what Trent would think of Gwen for that, though…"

* * *

"I mostly wrote that as a joke," Gwen said, still laughing to herself. "My other stories are usually a lot more serious and a lot less… sweaty. I read it to Trent… He threw up afterwards, but he wasn't mad or anything."

* * *

Chris heaved, rubbing his temples. "This has got to be the worst challenge yet." He turned to Jovie, hands clasped. "Jovie, I am begging you… BEGGING you… Please, tell me your story isn't either horrible or awkward to read."

"I hope it's not horrible… And it shouldn't be too awkward," Jovie admitted, rubbing the back of her head.

"Let's hope you're right…"

* * *

**Beauty and the Cody**

_The girls of the Atomic Aardvarks had all evacuated their cabin to fight over the only shower with hot water in the communal washrooms, but one lone girl was still in the dilapidated old cabin. As Sienna combed her dark hair, she took a good look at herself in the mirror in front of her and thought about her first day on the island. Chris McLean had started a new season of _Total Drama_, properly titled _Total Drama Torture. _And boy, what an accurate title that was._

_For the first challenge, their horrible host had made them all walk barefoot on piping hot rocks, then wrestle with the local grizzly bear, and ended the challenge by making them all listen to Ke$ha songs until the last person was standing. As fate would have it, Sienna and her fellow teammate and Total Drama veteran, Cody, had been the ones to make it through all that torture._

_She thought about how the campfire ceremony was going on at that very moment and wondered who on the other team was going to be voted off. Hopefully, it wouldn't be one of the friends she made before they had been separated into two different teams. Chris, being the jerk he was, may have made them enemies, but she would never want them to get voted off._

_

* * *

_

"There's too much Chris bashing in this!"

"Shut up, Chris!" everyone yelled at once.

* * *

"_Sienna?" a voice called out. Sienna froze. She knew that voice. It was the voice of her long-time crush…_

_Sienna spun around, seeing Cody standing in the doorway to the girls' side of their cabin. He was still dressed in his usual clothes while Sienna had already slipped into her silky pajama top and shorts. She couldn't help but blush about a boy, especially this boy, seeing her in her current attire. _

"_Um, yes, Cody?" she shyly asked, twirling a strand of dark red hair. She stood up and walked over to the brunet. Now Cody was the one who couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. Sienna was almost a foot taller than he was._

"_I just wanted to say good job. You know, with the challenge today and all." He rubbed the back of his head and gave her a cute grin. "We couldn't have won without you."_

"_Thanks, Cody," Sienna quietly said, looking down at her feet so Cody wouldn't see how red her face was. "But, um, you helped me a lot. If you hadn't comforted me during _Your Love Is My Drug, _I never would have made it through the final challenge." _

_Cody smiled at her. "Anything for you."_

* * *

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeei!" Sierra squeed. "Ten! Ten ten ten ten TEEEEEEEEEEEN!"

"You've only read about a fourth of it!" Jovie cried.

"Who cares! Ten!" Sierra bounced up and down in her seat, giggling like an insane person.

Rosalinda scooted her seat as far away from Sierra as possible. Noah followed suit, then cleared his throat and said, "I give it a-"

"Give it a ten or I'll post your most embarrassing secret on my Noah blog," Sierra hissed through her teeth.

"I've seen that blog. You've got everything on earth that could possibly humiliate me," Noah whispered back to her. "What else could you possibly know?"

"I, uh… know that you wet the bed until you were fourteen!"

"What? No, I didn't!"

"My blog followers don't know that! I could tell them you can vomit cotton balls and they wouldn't even begin to think I could have possibly made it up! I am a gossip goddess!"

Noah glared at her and shook her head. "Fine, I give it a ten," he said in his normal speaking voice. "It was the best one I've seen today, anyways… Even though that's not really saying anything."

Rosalinda, fully recovered from her yaoi-induced nosebleed, cleared her throat and said, "I'll give it a-"

"You! Girl who's never been on TV!" Sierra hissed.

Rosalinda raised an eyebrow. "It's Rosalinda. What is it?"

"You need to give it a ten too!"

"What, are you going to blackmail me too?" Rosalinda scoffed. "Chica, you don't have a blog to use against me."

"But I _did_ see Trent outside," Sierra whispered, a sneaky look on her face. "Vote Jovie's story a ten or I'll tell him about your crush on him!"

Rosalinda's eyes widened so they took up about half of her face. "How in the name of Shakira did you know about that?"

"I'm Sierra Valdez! I know _everything about everybody_…" Rosalinda could have sworn that the blogger's eyes turned red as she said that.

"Um… I give it a ten! Best story ever!" Rosalinda weakly exclaimed and she meekly waved a fist in the air.

"Jooovie likes Cooody," Selena sing-songed so quietly that she thought Jovie couldn't hear. She did.

"What are you talking about?" Jovie asked, genuinely curious.

"Please, you were totally thinking about yourself when you wrote about Sienna's little crush," Marilee scoffed, clicking her Marilee-Pen over and over to hear its totally modest message.

"Are you kidding me?" Jovie rolled her eyes. "Tall? Unnaturally-colored hair? _Sienna_? She was practically a clone of Sierra! Luck just happened to make her one of the judges..."

"Deeeenial," Selena sang again.

Jovie rolled her eyes. "Whatever, girl. You don't know what you're talking about."

Selena spun around to face her, looking absolutely furious. "I _knew_ you thought I was stupid!"

"That's not what I me-"

"I need a popsicle!" Selena yelled, in desperate need of cooling off. She stormed into the kitchen, trying her best to slam the swinging doors.

Chris walked towards the camera, smiling his signature pearly white smile. "Well, with seventy three points to the Ferrets' twenty five, I'd say the Ravens are our winners!"

"Yes!" Jovie cheered.

"I knew we could do it!" Courtney exclaimed.

"I can't believe it!" Gwen cried. She and Courtney gave each other a high-five, which shocked both of them afterwards.

* * *

"Please let that high-five mean those two have stopped fighting!" Jovie pleaded, looking at the roof of the Confession Can, as if she'd be able to see God through it.

* * *

"Selena, Marilee, tell Duncan and the others that you guys are voting someone off tonight," Chris announced as the other girls ran out of the room, ecstatic over their victory. Marilee and Selena sadly nodded, slowly walking out of the mess hall.

"Well, that was fun," Noah sarcastically said. He looked to the girls sitting next to him and asked, "You two ready to leave this rat infestation of an island?"

Rosalinda nodded. "I'm starved. You guys wanna go to Taco Bell after the boat drops us off on the mainland?"

Noah shrugged. "I don't have anything better to do."

"I need to see Cody first!" Sierra cried, worry and longing in her eyes. "Where is he?"

"Why, he's right here!" Chris exclaimed, pulling a cardboard standee of Cody out of the kitchen. He stood it next to Sierra, who squealed with delight and started hugging and kissing it immediately.

"Oh, Cody, you look picture perfect!" the violet-haired girl screamed. "How have you been? Did you miss me?"

Cardboard Cody was silent.

Sierra giggled like a schoolgirl. "You are absolutely adorable when you're being shy!"

"Yeah, enough of that," Chris muttered, yanking the cutout away from her. "Your drool is going to ruin the ink."

*T*S*R*

"This is all Duncan's fault!" Marilee exclaimed.

"We didn't do that great of a job, either," Selena meekly said, licking her cheery popsicle, which had calmed her down quite a bit.

"At least we _tried_! Duncan wrote a freaking summary!" She shook her head. "I'm seriously considering whether he's actually a useful member of our alliance or not."

"But you can't vote him off!" Selena reminded her. "He's still in the alliance!"

"Alliances are meant to be broken, just like the rules," Marilee told her. "I know it would only lessen your chances of winning, but trust me, it'd be for the best… I'll tell Geoff to vote Duncan off and you tell Zoey to do the same. Then I can tell the rejects to vote for Duncan too."

"I… I don't know, Marilee." Selena bit off a bit of her popsicle. "Duncan's my brother. It wouldn't feel right…"

"Selena, this needs to be done," Marilee said. "I don't expect you to understand this, since you're no brain surgeon, but-"

"Shut up," Selena bitterly said, glaring down at her boots.

Marilee shot her a glance. "Excuse me?"

"I said, _shut up_," Selena said, venom in her voice.

Eyebrow raised, Marilee glared at her. "Who do you think you are, talking to me like that?"

"Who do you think _you_ are?" Selena snapped, throwing her popsicle down on the ground. "Everybody around here treats me like I'm stupid! Maybe I'm not that smart, but that doesn't mean you have to be so mean about it! You say I'm one of your best friends, yet you don't act like it!"

"Selena, you know how I am-"

"No, I don't care! It's not right to treat everybody like dirt!" Selena interrupted. "I don't care if you were _born_ being such a bitch, you should at least treat your friends and teammates better than you treat everybody else!"

Marilee actually looked hurt by that comment. "Selena… This isn't like you. You've been acting weird all day." She placed a hand on her shoulder. "What's up with you?"

Selena shoved Marilee's hand off her shoulder. "I heard what you and Duncan said about me as soon as my back was turned."

Marilee thought this over for a minute, then gasped, realizing exactly what she meant. "Oh, God! Selena, I'm so sorry! I was kind of frustrated, that's the only reason I said tha-"

"No, stop trying to cover it up," Selena yelled, tears brimming in her eyes. "You basically just said it to my face a few minutes ago… I know that people say things about me behind my back…" Her tears finally started falling. "But I would have just hoped that you wouldn't be one of them…"

She stormed off in the opposite direction, leaving Marilee to feel like crying herself. "… This alliance is a total flop so far."

*T*S*R*

It was time for the campfire ceremony and everyone, including the three members of the winning team, were there. Selena was the last to sit down, and unfortunately for her, the only seat left was by Marilee.

She sat down, but didn't look at Marilee. The blonde looked over at her, seeing that she still didn't take her thinking beanie off. Normally, she would have said she looked absolutely horrific in it, but that would only tick Selena off more. "Selena… Can I just say how sorry I am?"

"No," Selena said, still not looking at her. "I didn't tell Zoey to vote Duncan off, because we actually know something about loyalty."

Ouch. "I, um, didn't tell the others to vote Duncan off." She hoped that would get Selena to forgive her. She didn't even look up at her.

"I know you were in the Confession Can for the rest of the afternoon… I'll bet you were talking about how stupid I am…"

"You'd be way wrong there…"

"What were you doing, then?" Selena asked, though she could really care less.

Marilee bit her lip, looking away from Selena. Just thinking about the horrific, humiliating things she did and said in there made her cringe…

* * *

The beginning of Marilee's confessional from earlier that day started as such… "Selena haaaaaaaates meeeeeee!" Marilee cried, sobbing into her hands. "She's li-like the best friend I-I've ever had a-a-a-and sh-she called me a bitch and I aaaaaaaam!" She continued to wail, drawing her knees to her chest and sobbing into them.

* * *

"Campers, it's that time of the day again!" Chris announced. "Time for one of your sorry Ferret butts to go bye-bye!" He held up the usual platter of marshmallows. "You know how this works. No marshmallow, no immunity."

"DJ, you're safe…" He tossed the fluffy piece of safety to him. "Trent, Grace, you two are also safe." He threw their marshmallows to them, than announced, "Zoey, Duncan, Geoff, consider yourself safe for another day!"

"What?" Marilee screamed. "Bu-But that means it's down to…"

"You and Selena?" Chris questioned. "Very good, Marilee!"

"Bu-bu-bu-bu-but… This can't be!"

"Oh, it be!" Chris turned towards the camera. "Which one of these equally annoying young ladies will get the boot? Find out… after the break!"

"You're stopping _now_?" Gwen asked. "You just love cliffhangers, don't you?"

"You bet!" Chris said, flashing her a toothy grin.

* * *

Oh boy. There go half of my fans.

There are parts of this I feel good about and parts I wish I knew how to make better. I hope it's satisfactory.


	49. Day 19, Part 3: That Was Cheerful

Well, here we go. Either way, people are probably going to be wazzed off at me, but just trust me, faithful readers. Have I ever let you down before?

… Don't answer that.

* * *

"No…" Marilee shook her head, trying not to let just how freaked out she was show. "No, this can't be right."

"It is right," Chris said, completely enjoying the tension.

"Nobody on our team would vote for Selena," Marilee quietly said. "They wouldn't… They all love Selena."

"My, what's that I hear in your voice, Marilee?" Chris asked, a devious smirk on his lips. "Doubt? Worry? _Fear_?" He let out a chuckle and quickly added, "I didn't know you could even express those emotions."

"Oh… Oh, my… It's me, isn't it?" Marilee asked, standing up. "Nobody on our team has anything against Selena."

"I haven't said yet… But you seem like a likely candidate," Chris said, his smirk still going strong.

Marilee mulled over this for a moment, her fear slowly being washed away with anger. "Oh, boy…" Jovie quietly said, more to herself than anyone else. "This will not end well…" She looked over to Zoey and Grace, who were seated next to her. She was worried that Marilee might start blurting out things way too mature for either of them to hear, and said, "Um, maybe you girls should go back to your cabin…"

"But I wanna see her blow up!" Grace whined. Jovie, however, wasn't going to give either of them a choice and grabbed their hands, dragging them towards the cabins.

"Marilee, sit down," Selena said, still looking mad at her. "He hasn't even said who's leaving yet."

"Like we don't already know I'm going home," Marilee snapped, refusing to listen to her. "You're all adorable and plucky and I'm a raging bitch!" She spun around to face her teammates and screamed, "Well, fine! It's not like I don't know how I am! If you all are expecting me to throw a tantrum and threaten you all, then you've got another thing coming! I will leave this island with dignity and my head held high and I will strangle anyone who says otherwise!"

"None of them voted for you!" Chris finally announced, hoping that would get Marilee to shut up. It did.

"So… They voted for me?" Selena asked, looking heartbroken.

"No."

"… But then… Why…"

"The votes were sort of all over the place. It was like you all just pulled a name out of a hat and cast that person as your vote."

"It's not our fault!" Geoff whined. "We didn't have another alliance meeting to decide who to vote off-"

"Geoff, shut up!" Duncan hissed, pinching Geoff's lips shut.

"Alliance?" Trent raised an eyebrow, looking suspicious. "What alliance?"

"Forget their chatter," Chris told him, waving a dismissive hand. "There wasn't nearly enough suspense with your here and there votes, so I picked the most irritating of you to go." Chris picked up the final marshmallow and threw it, hitting a certain blonde square in the forehead. "You're lucky that squeaky-voiced little dumbass is on your team, bra, or else it'd be _your_ butt leaving tonight."

"Me?" Selena exclaimed, looking heartbroken. "But… But… I'm plucky!"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you're lucky," Chris said, grabbing her by the wrist. "Come on, get out of here already. I'm getting tired of you people always resisting my excellent choices."

"You're hurting me," Selena timidly said, trying to yank away from him, but she was far too weak.

"Get the hell away from her," Duncan ordered, his hands quickly curling into fists. "_I'm_ the only one allowed to call Selena a squeaky-voiced little dumbass and order her around!"

"There's no way you can do this," Trent said, Gwen and DJ nodding in agreement.

"It's a miracle you got away with the Candace thing," Courtney said, arms crossed. "But if I tell my lawyer about _this_, he'll have more than enough to work with to sue your sorry-"

"I'M THE HOST!" Chris finally shouted, losing what little patience he had. "I run things around here! If you people don't like that," he paused, pulling Selena back on her feet, as she had thrown herself on the ground in an attempt to get away from him, "then you can take a ride on the Boat of Losers with the retard here."

There was a collective amount of gasps from the other competitors, but Marilee didn't gasp. People didn't gasp when they were ready to kill somebody.

"Oh, I _know_ you did not just say that," she slowly told him, holding her hands up in disbelief. "I know you didn't because if you _did_, I'd have to break your arms and throw you off the cliff."

Marilee began walking towards him, and Chris couldn't help but look nervous. He glanced over at the boys and said, "Uh, isn't this the part where you guys hold her back so she doesn't kill me?"

DJ shrugged, glaring at him. "Right now, we'd be rooting her on."

Marilee stopped several feet in front of the host, giving him a curt nod. "Now, unless you want me to give them something to cheer for, I suggest you let her go."

Chris huffed and said nothing as he shoved Selena down. She landed flat on her back, mere inches away from the blazing fire. As she sat up and rubbed her wrist, Marilee began to scream in horror. Selena raised an eyebrow, her confusion growing as the others began to yell things at her as well. They made frantic gestures and tugged at their hair, as if trying to tell her something. Too many people were talking at once for her to make out what they were saying, and as she stood up, she smelled something. Something that finally made her realize what they were all trying to tell her.

It was the smell of burning hair.

After she had fallen over, several embers from the bonfire had caused her long blonde hair to catch on fire. She finally began to panic, running around and flailing her arms, as if that would put out the fire. She was too freaked out to hear anybody telling her to stop, drop and roll.

DJ, shrieking even louder than Selena, finally raced over to her, snatched her up, and threw her into the shallow shore of the lake. She sputtered around, not expecting to be thrown into a lake, but she wasn't out far enough to drown. After she stopped flailing, she realized that her hair was no longer on fire and that she was able to sit up and barely get her lap wet. She rubbed her soaking wet beanie, which was covering a bump that had grown after hitting her head on a rock during her spasms.

She stood up, still rubbing her head as she walked back over to the others. She was expecting them all to look relieved, but instead they all looked shocked and were whispering to each other, all while staring at her with wide eyes. "What? Is it still on fire?"

"Selena…" Marilee looked ready to cry, which was when Selena knew something had to be wrong. "Honey… There's nothing left for there to burn."

Selena's brows knitted together. "What are you…" Marilee pulled a small hand mirror out from behind her back and held it up to Selena. When Selena looked in the mirror, she understood why everyone was so freaked out.

Her beautiful long hair… It was gone.

"Wha… My… My…" She began to tear up and babble nonsense as she ripped her thinking cap off and threw it on the ground. More gasps and whispers from the others. When she looked back into the small mirror, her view wasn't much better. She wasn't completely bald, like Heather had been after her elimination, but the hat hadn't protected her hair much. It looked as if she had a pixie cut, except for the singed ends. "My haaaaaair!" Selena finally managed to cry out, reaching out at the image in the mirror, as if she thought it was just an illusion. "My hair! I _loved_ my hair!"

Chris shrugged, looking like he could care less. "Should have thought of that before you fell right next to the fire."

"You _shoved_ me!" Selena wailed, clutching what was left of her hair.

Chris rolled his eyes. "Please, you're just to dumb to tell up from down. No wonder you caught your own hair on fire."

"That's it, McLean," Duncan hissed, glaring at him with all his might. "You're a dead man."

"You take his face, I'll break his limbs," Marilee said, glaring at Chris as well.

"You touch me and you guys are off the show too!" Chris threatened, but he still took a few steps back out of fear. "Selena, stop crying like a little baby," he ordered at the short-haired girl, who had fallen to her knees, sobbing. "You're just embarrassing yourself even more than usual!"

"This man is out of control," Courtney angrily said to no one in particular. "I don't even like this girl and I'm still horrified at what he's doing to her!"

"Get up!" Chris yelled down as she continued to whimper and sniffle over her loss. "Get up! What, are you too stupid to understand even the simplest of orders?"

Selena stopped sniffling and sobbing. Her sadness had faded and was quickly replaced with rage. She slowly stood up, and even though she was barely five feet tall, she felt bigger than she had felt in a while. "You think you are _so _smart, don't you? You think insulting me is going to break me? Well, you're wrong!" She began to walk toward the dock, but kept talking. "You haven't seen the last of me, Chris McLean."

"Of course I haven't," Chris said as he faced the camera. "Because we'll see you at Playa de Losers, along with all of our other losers, next time on Total Sibling Rivalry!"

He looked over to see she had finally gotten onto the boat and he walked over until he was at the very end of the Dock of Shame. Selena greeted him with a glare and a cross of her arms. Right as he stopped walking, Chef started the Boat of Losers and pulled away from the Dock. Selena was still glaring at him as he waved at her as if they were best friends. "You'll see, you son of a buttface!" Selena screamed. "I'll have you fired before the season even ends! I will be victorious!" She continued to yell, even as she faded off into the horizon.

Chris looked rather satisfied with himself, but he wasn't so chipper when Duncan shoved him into the lake.

*T*S*R*

"Oh, God, poor Selena," Bridgette said, walking out of the lounge at Playa de Losers with Izzy. "Can you believe Chris?"

"Not as far as I can throw him," Izzy said. "I feel like throwing him now, though. Into a shark tank… Actually, that sounds like fun! All I need is a tank! And a shark!"

"If you ever get that pulled together, be sure to tell me so I can watch," Bridgette told her with a surprisingly devious grin. They stopped by the dock, seeing Zack was already there. "Hey, how are you feeling? After Selena got on the boat, you sort of ran off."

Zack, seated on the edge of the dock, sighed and muttered, "I just want to punch Chris in the face."

"Welcome to the club," Bridgette said, crossing her arms and frowning at just hearing the evil host's name.

"But I'm going to be there for her," Zack said, standing up as he saw a speck in lake that had to be the Boat of Losers. "She needs a shoulder to cry on and I've got two of them. When she gets off that boat, I want me to be the first thing she sees and…" He paused as the boat stopped by the dock and noticed something particularly interesting. "Uh…"

"What are you gawking at, scrawny boy?" Chef barked, stepping away from the wheel.

"Chef…" Bridgette raised an eyebrow. "Where's Selena?"

"What are you talking about?" Chef asked, his voice as loud and commanding as ever. He spun around and was about to grab Selena so he could leave and take a nice bubble bath, but he had nothing to grab. "What the-"

Izzy interrupted him, looking more excited than nervous, and hollered, "She's gone AWOL!"

*T*S*R*

In the middle of the lake, a small buoy was gently floating in the water. The infamous seagull stopped his late night flight to rest on the buoy to catch his breath. It was particularly hard for him, considering he had a plastic six-pack soda holder around his neck.

As he landed on it, he made himself comfortable. It was actually rather soothing, how his resting stop bobbed up and down with each miniscule wave. Since he was forever being strangled and constantly injured by the pesky humans on that dumb island nearby, he needed some relaxation.

Everything was peaceful, until a hand emerged from the water and grabbed onto the edge of the buoy. This spooked the poor seagull and he flew away with a squawk. So much for relaxation.

The hand yanked the rest of its body up to the surface. The wet girl took a deep breath, her lungs burning from swimming under water for so long. She pulled herself up more so that the water only went up to her chest. She clutched onto the buoy for dear life, panting and trying to shake away the short hair that had been clinging to her face. She was pooped, considering she had just jumped off a moving boat and swam away so she wouldn't be noticed by its driver, but she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep for a while. Not until her mission was complete.

After catching her breath, the girl's teal-blue eyes narrowed and she whispered, "I'll show them… I'll show them all that Selena Caliver isn't as dumb as she looks…"

* * *

Oh my.

Sorry this is short. I felt like less would be more... For now. More questions will be answered in the next two chapters… Or will they?

Nah, they probably will.


	50. Day 20: Playa se Lena

UGH MY LIFE SUUUUUUUCKS.

I've been soooooo busy, you guys have no idea. My computer's messed up and I can't even get on deviantart and grrrrrr. I really need to speed things up, and I'm gonna try to do that... Let's hope it turns out not-suckish. This chapter is a start... A suckish one.

* * *

"Welcome to Playa de Losers!" Chris McLean exclaimed, standing on the dock outside the fancy resort. "It's been a long week for our contestants, especially the losers, so let's check up on them, shall we?"

Once Chris was by the pool area, he walked over to LeShawna and Cody, who were at the tiki bar in the pool. "Hey, you losers enjoying yourself?"

LeShawna sent him an icy glare and Cody's glare wasn't any less icy.

"Whoa, okay," Chris muttered, backing away. "Somebody's PMSing..."

"I'm a dude!" Cody cried.

"Keep telling yourself that," the host mumbled as he walked over to Bridgette, who was comforting a gloomy Owen.

"Chris, go away," Bridgette spat. "You've done enough already."

Chris glared at the surfer. "Why are you people being such jerks today?"

"Because you're a big fat meanie face!" Owen yelled as he finally started to cry. Bridgette rubbed his back and pulled out a tray of marshmallows she had swiped from the buffet. He inhaled them immediately, but he did it with absolutely no joy.

Chris looked confused for a second, but he soon realized what he meant. "Oh, are you still whining about that poser?"

"Candace wasn't a poser!" Owen screamed, looking angry for once. "She was my sister and she was carrying my future nephew!"

Bridgette face-palmed. "Owen, for the last time, Candace is not pregnant with Geoff's child just because they held hands."

Chris was desperate to get off the subject of Candace, so he said, "Yeah, but Candace and Geoff sure were getting close, weren't they, Bridgette?"

"Yes, and then you ruined it." Bridgette gave him another icy glare and Chris just looked confused.

"Why are you still angry? You should be thanking me!" Chris threw his hands in the air and added, "I kept that lying phony away from the guy you're still totally in love with!"

Bridgette raised an eyebrow and put her hands on her hips. "Must I remind you that I'm the one who broke up with Geoff?"

Chris rolled his eyes. "You're not over him."

"Um, yes, I am. That's sort of why I broke up with him."

"Denial isn't just a river in Egypt," Chris smugly said.

"I hate that saying," Bridgette mumbled. "It's so lame."

"You had no right to do that," Heather said as she walked up to Chris, looking rather peeved herself. "Just because she's adopted doesn't mean she's not a part of Owen's family."

"It's in the contract!"

"I've looked over it," Heather told him, pulling out a copy. "And I see nothing about blood relations in here."

"It was implied."

"You can't just imply-"

"Can we talk about something else?" Chris interrupted. "The nice viewers want to see how you all have been spending your time here at Playa de Losers!"

Izzy popped out from behind a lawn chair and said, "I've been looking online for a hit man to kill you in your sleep. There's not as many options as I thought there'd be." Izzy shrugged. "If Izzy wants something done right, I guess she'll have to do it herself."

"Would you morons forget about Candace? Nobody liked her anyway!" Chris screamed, crossing his arms and stomping his foot like a child.

"Everyone liked her!" LeShawna yelled from the tiki bar.

"Everyone but me," Chris said with a pout. "And my opinion is the only one that matters. So there."

"It's not just Candace we're miffed about," Bridgette said. "What about Selena? You just kicked her off because you didn't like her!"

"And you set her hair on fire," Keith mumbled, joining the group. "Not cool, dude."

"That was her fault!"

"It's her fault you shoved her down too closely to the fire?" Heather asked, raising an eyebrow.

"... Yes!"

Everybody started screaming at him at once, until Chris finally screamed, "SHUT UP!" Surprisingly, they listened to him. "If I show you that your precious Candace is fine, will you people leave me alone?"

"What about Selena?" Zack asked, finally joining the group. If looks could kill, Chris would have been dead and buried just from one glance at Zack.

"What about her?" Chris looked confused. "She's probably in her room, crying like an emo kid or something."

"She never showed up last night!" Zack exclaimed.

Chris looked genuinely confused. "What do you mean she didn't show up? Chef said he brought the boat here last night."

"Did he mention that he was the only one on it?" Bridgette asked, arms crossed.

"So Selena's AWOL now?" Chris asked. After thinking it over for a moment, he shrugged and said, "That oughta save us some money in the long run."

Half of the group gaped at him like he was out of his mind. Even Izzy, and that girl knew crazy when she saw it. "Are you insane?" Bridgette exclaimed. "A thirteen year old girl, who was your responsibility, has gone missing and you're not even going to bother to look for her?"

"That sounds like a lot of work," Chris muttered, crossing his arms.

"Okay, ignoring the fact that you don't even care about the wellbeing of this girl," Bridgette began, looking angrier than anyone had ever seen her, "Aren't you worried her parents are going to be furious and sue?"

Chris shrugged. "Her parents are probably glad to be rid of the annoying little slu-"

Zack shoved him in the pool before he could finish insulting Selena. That earned him a few cheers and a round of high fives.

"Wait, he said something about Candace!" Owen cried, reaching down and pulling Chris out of the water by the back of his shirt. "You said you'll show us that she's okay?"

Chris spat out the chlorine water that had gotten into his mouth onto Owen's face and coughed for a few seconds before finally saying, "Ugh, I'll do anything to get you people off my back!" Owen stood him back up and handed him a towel, which Chris rudely snatched.

"How do you propose to do that?" Heather asked, looking skeptical.

After Chris' beautiful hair was dried off, he pulled a remote control out of his pocket. "Lucky for you wimps, I sent a camera guy out to stalk Candace at the airport I sent her to. One look at the Candace Cam will hopefully show you people she's just fine and dandy and get you all to stop assaulting me."

"You mean like how you assaulted my girlfriend?" Zack angrily asked.

Chris rolled his eyes. "You were only actually together for like five minutes. Don't get all high and mighty, dude."

He clicked a big red button on the remote and a flat screen seemingly came down from nowhere. There was static for a moment, but eventually, a picture of Candace talking to a ponytailed brunette behind a counter was visible.

"Candace!" Owen cried. "Please tell me you're okay!"

"She can't here you, big guy," Keith quietly said, patting him on the back.

Owen paused for a moment, then got closer to the screen and screamed, "CANDACE! PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE OKAY!"

Chris shoved him aside so the others could see that she was just fine. Unfortunately, they couldn't. Because she wasn't.

"What do you mean you can't put me on the next flight to Ottawa?" Candace desperately asked. "I have a ticket right here!"

The brunette took the ticket from her and looked it over. "I'm sorry, but this ticket is from 1998. And it's a ticket to Dublin. And it's not even for this airline. "

Candace, looking absolutely confused, took the ticket back from her and read it over. "Oh. I thought that might have been a typo."

Chris let out a scoff. "Moron actually thought I gave her a valid ticket."

"CHRIS!"

"Would you people stop yelling at me?"

"Would YOU stop being a gigantic meanie?" Owen yelled back. "Now what's gonna happen to Candace?"

"Watch to find out," Chris said, pointing to the screen.

Candace looked distraught, then tossed her ticket aside. "Look..." She paused to read the flight attendant's name tag. "... Emily. I've had a really, really hard couple of days. It would be great if you gave me a break. You see, I was on this reality show and the host didn't like me, or rather who I was, so he kicked me off and-"

"Ooooh, a reality show?" Emily clasped her hands together. "That's so exciting! Who was the host?"

Candace sighed, then told her, "Chris McLean. But he-

"I LOVE CHRIS MCLEAN!" Emily screamed, almost knocking the redhead back. "He is sooooo much hotter than Jeff Probst!"

Candace's lip jutted out in a pout. "G-Geoff..."

Emily shrugged. "Well, if Chris gave you the boot, then he must have a good reason. He also must have an excellent reason for giving you useless Poland tickets. It obviously means you're a horrible person and I do not enjoy horrible people. Please get out of my sight."

"No!" Candace pleaded as she tried to reach over the counter to grab Emily by the front of her shirt to shake some sense into her. Unfortunately, the flight attendant leaned back to prevent this. "Please, you don't under-"

"Nobody sees the Wizard!" Emily exclaimed, popping under the counter.

Candace stood there, dumbfounded and absolutely distressed at her situation. "Okay," she quietly mumbled to herself as she walked away from the semi-abandoned ticket check counter. she sat down on a bench near the airport's exit and continued to talk to herself. "There are far worse things that could be happening to you right now, Candy. You could be Miranda Cosgrove... Yeah. She's sort of weird-looking and no one really seems to like her..." Her fake smile slowly faded. "But she's also got a pretty good music career and the lead role in one of the most popular shows in Nickelodeon. She would at least be able to afford valid plane tickets..."

Candace looked down at her feet, trying to fight the tears building up in her eyes. "At least things couldn't possibly get worse..."

A random person passing by who happened to hear her say that turned to his friend. "Did she really just say that?"

The other guy, drinking a gigantic slurpee, nodded. "Yeah. Somebody needs to teach her a lesson."

The first guy took his friend's drink, popped the plastic lid off the slurpee, and threw the cherry-flavored contents in her face. "That'll show you to use a predictable jinx! Have you never watched a sitcom?"

The two guys stormed off, leaving a flabbergasted and very sticky Candace. After completely rubbing the goop away from her eyes, she slowly began to sniffle, which led to crying, which led to straight-out sobbing.

Before one of the booted contestants could comment or Chris could laugh, someone popped out of one of the fake plants by the bench and slapped a hand over Candace's agape mouth.

"Who's the gay dude?" Keith asked, confused. "And why's he trying to smother Candace.

Zack squinted his eyes at the short-haired blonde, but they soon widened after realizing something. "That gay dude is my girlfriend!"

And, after taking a better look, they were able to see that it really was Selena. And they were also able to see the rag that was in the hand she had placed over Candace's mouth.

At first, Candace desperately flailed in some attempt to break the grip Selena had on her, but after a moment, she slowed down. Selena quietly shushed at her, letting go of her waist to stroke her head with her other hand. She continued this until Candace's eyes drooped shut and she went limp.

Selena caught her and winced. "Ew, she's all sticky!" After getting over the stickiness, she got a better grip on her by grabbing her under her armpits and proceeded to drag her away from the camera's view.

To say the others were shocked would be an understatement.

"Oh my... What was that?" Heather shrieked.

Chris was not only shocked, but royally peeved. "Who does that little brat think she is, stealing the girl I banished?" He whipped his cell phone out of his pocket and started punching buttons in. "I've got to get somebody to take care of them..."

As he held his phone up to his ear, he looked at the camera. "We're done here. I don't feel like dealing with this right now."

"Wait, you can't leave!" Bridgette exclaimed, still a little shocked from what she had seen. "There's so much that needs to be answered! Why isn't the camera guy following them or-"

"THAT'S ALL THE TIME WE HAVE SEE YOU NEXT TIME," Chris blurted out as he stormed off to talk to whoever he had called.


	51. Day 21: The One With Many Alliances

Okay, I have some explaining to do.

I just won't do it now.

It's a long story, but it involves a disaster of technological proportions. I'll explain later. Just know I'm not giving up.

Here's another weekend chapter. Regular challenges start after this.

* * *

"Sigh," Marilee sighed, sadly poking at her breakfast.

None of her other alliance mates, who were the only ones at the table, responded to that.

Narrowing her eyes, Marilee said "Sigh" again, only louder and clearer. When they continued to do or say nothing, Marilee kicked Geoff in the shin from underneath the table.

Letting out a whine and bending down to rub the red spot on his leg, he looked up at his unhappy sister and asked. "Uh, something on your mind, sis?"

Marilee let out a real sigh and slumped. "I feel so bad about what happened with Selena before she left. I shouldn't have been so harsh with her. I hope she forgives me..."

"If she's not dead," Zoey quietly mumbled between bites of breakfast slop. When Duncan, Geoff and Marilee gave her odd looks, she shrugged. "She could be! Xavier says she felled off the Boat of Losers and pro'lly got eated by sharks."

"What are you talking about, kid?" Duncan asked, looking at her like she just grew another head.

Zoey drank some of her juice, then said, "I called Xavie last night and he sayed that Selena never showed up."

"What do you mean you called him?" Marilee asked.

Zoey pulled an iPhone out from her skirt pocket and held it up. "I called him with this!"

Duncan took the device from her and looked it over, finding that it was indeed real and not plastic and filled with candy. "Where'd you get an iPhone?"

Zoey slumped in her seat and looked down at her lap guiltily. "I didn't stole it from one of my lemonade people's purses and replace it with a rock so they wouldn't notice, if that's what you're thinking..."

"Dude, I want an iPhone. Can I have this?" Duncan asked.

"That's not the key issue here!" Marilee exclaimed, snatching the phone from him. "Didn't you hear the part where Selena somehow disappeared between getting on the boat and docking at-" A beep from the iPhone interrupted her and she looked down at it. "Oooh, an Angry Birds update..." She shook her head. "Still not the key issue."

"Wow. Selena's MIA?" Geoff asked, taking the iPhone from Marilee. "That's heavy, man. What if-" He paused, looking down at the phone. "Cool, a Twitter app!"

Marilee looked back at the remaining Calivers and mumbled, "I guess this is a bad time to tell you guys the alliance is pretty much done, huh?"

"Huh?" Duncan looked up from over Geoff's shoulder, who was typing away on the stolen device. "What are you talking about, blondie? We've barely done anything!"

"Yeah, and look at what happened," Marilee said, gesturing to the empty seat that Selena would have usually sat in.

Duncan rolled his eyes and stood up. "Fine. We don't need your suckish alliance, anyway." He grabbed Zoey by the back of her shirt and started dragging her out of the mess hall. "Come on, Zoey. We'll go start our own alliance. With blackjack. And iPhones. And bunnies."

"Yay, bunnies!" Zoey cheered. "They're so fluffy!"

"We're not thinking of the same kind of bunnies."

Once they were out the door, there were only two. Marilee sat back down and began talking. "Okay, you're probably wondering what that was about. Well, the other day, I discovered I may have been wrong about forming an alliance with the DiCaprios. You see-"

She looked over at her brother, just figuring out what he was doing. "Eating breakfast, Zoey stole an iPhone, I stole it from her..." Geoff mumbled as he Twittered away. "Um, I still have a few characters left. What else should I say?"

"How about 'I'm an idiot'?" Marilee suggested, raising an eyebrow at him.

Geoff looked up from his Twitter and told her, "Aww, don't say that about yourself, Mar."

After facepalming, Marilee took the iPhone away from him and said, "Geoffrey, focus. We need to find Trent and Grace and see if they'd want to form an alliance. After seeing what Grace was capable of the other day, we could definitely use her to our advantage... Right after I check my Facebook page."

***T*S*R***

Once they were out of the mess hall, Marilee decided it would be best to confront Grace alone. "You take Trent, I'll take Grace. They've got to be around here somewhere."

"If you gave me the iPhone, I could text Trent to figure out where he is," Geoff said, looking at the iPhone in her hands with great lust.

Marilee held the phone to her chest, as if she was cradling a child. "You have a cell phone."

"Yeah, but it's a crappy piece of crap cell phone!" Geoff whined. "You have a cell phone too! Why do you get it?"

"Maybe because you chopped all the hair off my Barbies when I was four!" Marilee snapped, glaring at him.

"You didn't even like Barbies!" Geoff said, defending his seven year old self's actions. "You said her clothes were gaudy!"

"Doesn't mean you had to scalp them," Marilee muttered, playing with something on the iPhone. "Now go convince Trenton to be in our alliance while I play Angry Birds and look for Grace."

Moping, Geoff said, "Fine," and walked off.

Marilee walked off soon after, still playing her game. "Wow, those birds really are angry."

*T*S*R*

Marilee finally found the young girl in the Raven's cabin, smearing some type of unknown substance onto Gwen's pillow.

"Yo."

Grace jumped and spun around. After seeing who it was, she calmed down. "Oh. It's just you."

"Ignoring that." Marilee sat down on Gwen's bunk and motioned for Grace to take a seat as well. "I'm gonna cut to the chase. I know that you're in an alliance with Mia."

"Am not," Grace maturely argued, sticking her tongue out at the blonde.

Marilee rolled her eyes. "Um, are too. I saw you run by the other day, so I followed you. And I think you'd be interested to know what I saw."

Grace raised an eyebrow. "Yeah right. You don't have any proof."

"I don't... Or I didn't. But then I took some pictures..." Marilee pulled her crappy non iPhone cell phone out of her skirt pocket and turned it on. "Here's an interesting picture of you forcing Mia to weight that wheel to tamper with who was going to be in the fanfiction challenge."

"So? She didn't even do it right!" Grace crossed her arms and pouted. "She made it land on Duncan and Selena and they're a bunch of dum dums."

"I won't argue with the fact that they're not the best authors," Marilee muttered. She looked back down at the camera screen and smirked. "Oh, and here's a good one of you screaming in Mia's face. I don't think Chris would approve of an alliance between an intern and a contestant. He'd kick you off if he knew..." She saw that she didn't look too frightened, so she added, "And oh, what would your precious brother think if he knew you were a big cheater?"

Grave looked frightened this time. "No, you can't tell Trent! I'm doing this for him!"

Marilee raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Mia and I are working together to make sure Trent wins and Gwen loses! When he has lots of money, he'll forget all about her icky face and never want to see her again!"

"Just when I start thinking you're the smartest three year old on earth, you start saying stupid stuff again."

Deciding to ignore that, Grace pleaded, "You can't tell Trent! He'll be really mad!"

"Oh, of course not," Marilee said, a little too nicely. "Not for somebody who could possibly be my future stepsister."

Grace looked genuinely confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, you didn't know?" Marilee asked, feigning shock. "Oopsies! Well, I guess I might as well tell you. Your daddy is dating my mommy. And it sounds like they really like each other."

"Nuh-uh! I don't believe you!"

"I thought you might not." Marilee pulled out the iPhone and pulled up Facebook. "Look at this picture my mom took of them."

And surely enough, on a certain Bonnie Anderson's Facebook page, there was a picture of her and a certain Vince DiCaprio, sitting together on a park bench, her head resting on his strong shoulder. Marilee almost hurled upon seeing it, but knew it would be perfect ammo for Grace, who she knew wanted the men in her life all to herself.

Grace's brown eyes widened. "No... First Trent, now Daddy..."

"But I have a way to keep them apart."

Grace looked up, hope glinting in her eyes. "Really? How?"

"You just leave that to me." Marilee smirked, setting her new iPhone aside. "But I need you to do something for me."

"Anything! What is it?"

"Join an alliance with me, Geoff, and Trent. All you have to do is not vote for me and Geoff at the elimination ceremonies and we'll take care of the rest."

Grace thought this over for a moment, then nodded. "Okay. And you promise not to tell anyone about Mia and keep your icky mommy away from my daddy?"

"Yeah, sure," Marilee unenthusiastically said.

"Pinky promise?"

Marilee rolled her eyes, linking her pinky with the small one Grace extended to her. "Pinky promise. Now do me a favor and go find Geoff and your brother." Before Grace could leave, Marilee stopped her and pointed to Gwen's ruined pillow. "Uh, what's that?"

"... Stuff." Grace shrugged and jumped off the bed, running out the door.

After she was gone, Marilee smirked to herself. "Dude, everybody acts as if that kid is so smart. I totally just outsmarted her and I didn't even have to try."

She picked the iPhone back up and glared at it. "How is that easy when the ninth level of Angry Birds is so freaking hard?"

***T*S*R***

"So, dude, what do you think?"

"I dunno, man. Alliances never really end well on this show."

"Good point." Geoff sighed. He wasn't having an easy time convincing Trent to form an alliance.

"But I guess it could work."

Scratch that.

"Really?" Geoff perked up. "Awesome, dude!"

Trent shrugged, getting up from the steps that led to their cabin. "It wouldn't hurt to have Marilee on my side. I'm pretty sure she hates me. She always looks at me like she's wishing I'd drop dead."

"Dude, trust me, that's how she looks at everybody."

Trent shrugged, figuring that was probably true.

"Trent!" he heard a tiny voice yell. He looked past Geoff to see his sister running toward him. Grace stopped in front of him, looking like she was going to explode from her excitement. "Let's be in the ally ants!"

Marilee, not far behind her, rolled her eyes at her attempt to act like a regular, not evil genius kid in front of Trent. "The kid's all for the alliance. You in, Trent?"

Trent nodded, standing up. "Yeah, sounds good."

Marilee smiled. "Great, great. We should have an alliance meeting. Shall we meet in the cave?"

"Sure. Just let me get back some of the sheet music I loaned to Selena," Trent said, walking into the girls side of the cabin.

The iPhone let out a beep, so Marilee pulled it out of her pocket. "Oh, Geoff, you have a tweet..." She looked at who it was from and raised an eyebrow. "Why are you following Greyson Chance?"

"I don't question you about who you follow," Geoff muttered, embarrassed, as he took the phone.

"Yeah, because I don't have a Twitter account. Because I'm not an idiot."

Trent walked back out of the cabin, looking puzzled. "Uh, did either of your girls do something with Selena's stuff?"

Grace shook her head and Marilee raised an eyebrow. "Haven't touched it. Why?"

"Her guitar and music folder isn't where it used to be... Or anywhere at all."

"What?" Marilee walked into the room, with Trent behind her. "It has to be in there somewhere..."

As laid on the ground to look under Selena's old bunk, Trent looked over at the dresser next to it, which had dozens of different kinds of beauty products stuffed on top of it. "Wow, look at all this stuff." Trent started picking some of them up to inspect them. "Concealer, lengthening mascara, at least twenty dfferent shades of eye shadow..." Trent smirked. "Selena must have some major self esteem issues to need all this, huh?"

Marilee stood up and after seeing what he was looking at, quietly said, "Um, that's all mine."

"... Oh."

"Yeah."

"... Those are nice shoes."

"Just shut up before you make this any more awkward."

"Yes, ma'am."

After thoroughly searching any place that Selena could have put her guitar and stuff, Marilee started looking through her dresser... Which was empty. "It's not just her guitar that's missing... None of her stuff is here. Her clothes, her suitcase, the stash of stuff she's stolen from other people."

"What?" Trent asked.

Marilee looked up and nodded. "Oh, yeah, Selena's kind of a klepto."

"Seriously?"

"Let's just say you don't keep 'losing' guitar picks..." She sighed, sitting down on one of the empty bunks, which caused a crinkling noise. Marilee raised an eyebrow and stood back up. She saw that there had been a piece of paper where she had been sitting. "Where'd this come from?"

She took a moment to read the note, and her eyes widened as soon as she fnished. "What's it say?" Trent asked. Marilee handed him the note so he could read it for himself.

_You guys can't get rid of me that easily! And you cant keep me from wearing fresh clothes and keeping other people's stuff! This won't be the last time I do a little ninjaing around here... ;D_

_Tell Geoff that Candace is fine. She's kind of miffed cuz I almost killed her, but she'll get over it. It's Candace we're talking about. _

_-SC_

_PS- I'm not mad at you anymore, Marilee. You can't help how much of a jerk you are. You have major daddy issues. _

"Wow... I can't believe this," Trent said, sitting down on one of the bunks.

"I know... I so don't have daddy issues!" Marilee exclaimed, pacing in front of Trent. "I mean, sure, I hate my dad because he's a gigantic piece of chizz and basically abandoned his family, which I so don't want to go into detail about, but that doesn't mean-"

"Way to keep your priorities in check, Mar," Trent muttered, more to himself than her.


End file.
